


Lovesick

by confusednerdling



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, season three spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-06-11 22:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 26,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15326178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confusednerdling/pseuds/confusednerdling
Summary: A collection of prompt-filling fics from my Tumblr, gayywords. From AUs like Tarzan and Warm Bodies to Waverly biting Nicole in her sleep and Waverly comforting Nicole after her panic attack.Newest Chapter: Nicole and Wynonna deal with the events of the finale. Plus another chapter where Wynonna finds out Nicole's middle name and the two bond.





	1. Tarzan AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I think waverly is the perfect jane and nicole, sweet puppy dog eyes nicole is an amazing tarzan :3

Waverly was lost. The trees were a maze of green and brown, blocking out the blue of the sky. There was blood running down her brow from an unfortunate incident. She forgot that a cardinal rule of the jungle was to keep alert and not be glued within her book, trying to decipher what she had left of her map. So, as a result, she had a run in with a low-hanging branch and was left with an angry cut just above her right eye.

Which was exactly what she fucking needed right now. 

She couldn’t believe she was lost. She had so many degrees. She had so much knowledge. She had written and read so many books. She had survived so much and she just wanted to study the animals like she had all those times before, but apparently, she had met her downfall getting lost in the jungle. This was how Waverly Earp, the genius, the zoologist, the adventure, died. 

Alone. Lost. Bleeding from a stupid cut because she was being stupid. 

“Fuck,” Waverly cursed under her breath. If her older sister could see her now, she would get so much shit for this. 

Wynonna had tagged along and was back at camp. She was the big sister, the protector, Wynonna had said “don’t go” and wanted to tag along with her shiny new gun in hand, but it was Waverly who said “Wynonna, no”, who said “Wynonna, I know what I’m doing”. And now, it was Waverly who was lost, who had no idea what she was doing, who just wanted to find and hug Wynonna and her friends. 

“Shit,” she cursed again. There was no one in this jungle. No one except her group of fellow researchers and her adrenaline-seeking sister who doubled as her personal bodyguard. Waverly had thought she would be alright. She knew where the gorillas were. She wanted to go without disturbing their habitat, but she unfortunately slammed her head in a branch, fell in a puddle, and now her map was a soggy mess. 

She held it up. Maybe she was close enough to the - 

She saw a flash of red. It was brief and oh so quick, but… 

Waverly fumbled her walkie talkie. “Wynonna, it’s Waverly. Please pick up. Over,” Her sister hadn’t picked up the first or second or third time. God damn it. If Wynonna wasn’t picking up, because she was too busy screwing either Doc or Dolls, Waverly was so going to haunt her sister’s ass.

She walked forward. This time, though, she tried to limit her noise. Small steps. Just tiptoeing. She should be at the base soon. Right? Unless, she was going the wrong way which was a good chance since her map was nothing but black ink smeared about on a drenched parchment.  
She - 

Another flash of red sped through the trees. 

Maybe it was a bird! Waverly squinted, looking up, but the leaves and forestry was so dense that finding a single red bird felt like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

Although, it looked much too big to be a bird. 

She frowned and kept moving, kept walking, and kept trying to stay quiet. There were dangers in the jungle. Dangers that Wynonna had warned her about. Dangers she was going to avoid with her handy dandy map before its use expired. 

“Shit,” she said under her breath. It felt like nowadays all she could do was swear and berate herself. 

Suddenly, she could hear something like low rumbling… Something low and dark… 

She flinched at the noise that was steadily approaching.

It could be one of the researcher’s Jeeps. It could be the low growl of an engine. 

She backed away slowly. Whatever it was, it was approaching. Besides, getting hit by a car in the jungle would give Wynonna way too material for her sister’s impromptu drunken stand-up routines at the campfire. 

It was getting louder. Louder. And…angrier? 

Fuck.

She took off running. Blood, sweat, water, and mud was weighing her down, but she didn’t care. 

She kept running. She kept running. The animal chasing her - large, spotted, sharp eyes, sharp teeth - bounded forward without hesitation, without fear.

She let out a horrible scream. She was going to die here. She was going to die here.

Alone. Lost. And eaten. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. 

“HELP!” she screamed into her walkie talkie, into the air. “HELP!” Maybe she was close enough to the compound that someone would overhear and run over. Maybe Wynonna could - 

Her foot got caught on a root and, like before, she was tumbling downward. Her head slammed into the mud and grass. The jaguar behind her slowed. It was enjoying itself. It was slowly trotting toward her, smug and cocky. 

It was too late. It was too late. 

She was going to die on the floor of the jungle.

She tried to crawl away, to scuffle away, as her eyes stared at the jaguar, but her back slammed into a tree and fear stopped her in her tracks. 

Anxiety flushed through her. She was transfixed on the creature’s eyes. 

They were going to be the last thing she’d ever see.

She was going to die. She was going to die. 

She closed her eyes. It would be over soon. 

She pressed the talk button on her walkie talkie. “I love you, Wynonna,” she whispered. If she was going to have last words, that would be it. Those four words. The only words she ever knew to be one hundred percent true, one hundred percent of the time. “I love you, Wynonna,” she said again. This time, faster. This time, higher pitch. This time, with tears rolling down her face. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” 

But the moment never came, because instead, of the sound of her flesh being devoured, Waverly heard a crash as a heavy weight landed on the ground near her. Waverly heard a gutteral shout and a smack of something hitting the jaguar. She heard animals whimpering. She heard something receding. 

It took her a long moment to open her eyes. A long, terrifying moment. 

“Wyn…” But the word died in her throat. Her hero wasn’t her sister like she had imagined. It was someone else. 

Muscular. Red hair that was long and wild. 

Wearing practically nothing but makeshift underwear out of tattered clothes that hung loosely to her frame. And brown eyes. Really beautiful brown eyes. 

“Uh…” Waverly didn’t know what to say.

There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone. That’s what everyone told them. It was just them - her gangly group of researchers and Wynonna. But… But how? How was this woman here? 

B-But this woman looked like she had never seen someone like her before. She was staring at Waverly funnily, in a trance of confusion and puzzlement. 

“Thank you,” Waverly finally said. She swallowed thickly at the odd look she received in response. The fear was leaving her slowly, burying itself away for another terrifying encounter. “I’m Waverly. You, um… You saved my life,”

The woman stared her. Her red hair shined in the daylight. She was beautiful. 

“Thank you,” Waverly said again. “What’s, um… Well, who are you? I mean, why are you… Are you okay?” She motioned to the dismal clothing. 

The woman just kept staring and then she took off, running far and as fast as possible. 

Waverly just stared in shock. Her guardian angel disappeared into the jungle that had served as maze moments ago. She stayed there for a long moment, not sure what to do. The initial fear of being lost wasn’t suffocating her anymore. Now she just felt… She felt lighter, safer, knowing the redhead was in the jungle too… Knowing there was someone out there, other than Wynonna, looking out for her. 

“WAVES! YOU THERE?! JESUS! WAVES!”

Waverly jumped as the sound of radio snapped her back into reality. 

She grabbed at it quickly and lifted it up. 

“I’m here! I’m here! Over!”

“Thank the fucking lord. You gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry. I think I had a heart attack too,” Waverly pressed her back to the tree and slid to the ground, panting softly as she caught her breath. “I’m okay, Wyn. Can you come and get me? Over,”

Wynonna sighed in relief on the line. “Sure, Waves. I can do that. Let me get the boys and we’ll come find you. Are you okay?” 

Strangely, Waverly felt herself smiling. “Yeah. Yeah. I am. Over,”

“Why you keep saying ‘over’?”

Waverly rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics, but the smile never left her face. “It’s walkie talkie etiquette. You need to be saying it too! Over,” 

“That’s fucking stupid,” Wynonna snorted. “We’re heading over,”

“Thank you. Sorry I was so stubborn. I just wanted to do something by myself for once. Over,”

“It’s okay. I’m pretty stubborn too. And - FUCK! A bug just flew into my mouth! SHIT! Goddamn jungle!” Wynonna spat into her walkie talkie. “Three more days, baby girl, and then we are out of here! Huh? On to bigger, better things. That don’t involved this goddamn jungle!”

“I dunno, Wyn,” Waverly said looking around. “I think there’s more to this jungle than we initially thought,” 

She thought of the redhead and her smile grew bigger. She would stay here as long as it took to crack the mystery that was the strange redhead savior. She would stay forever if she had to. 

She put her walkie talkie back on her belt and went over their encounter. 

One day, she would see that girl again. One day. She knew it in her heart.


	2. Warm Bodies AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: a prompt based off of warm bodies, the zombie movie???

Waverly doesn’t know exactly what’s happening. 

One moment she was surrounded - the smell of decaying flesh and blood thick in the air, her heart slamming in her rib cage a mile a minute, and the shotgun in her arms suddenly feeling insufficient. 

The next, she’s sitting on her ass, shotgun in hand and there’s a woman standing over her. 

Needless to say, she’s confused. 

They’re in an old warehouse - just a block away from where Waverly was surrounded. She can’t remember exactly what happened. She just remembered someone grabbing her. Someone cold. She remembered closing her eyes, thinking it was the end, feeling herself be dragged, feeling the world get dark and dizzy and feel nothing but panic.

Now, she’s here and she’s confused, because the woman is standing over her, but she’s not looking at her. No. The woman is looking at the doors as if she’s standing guard. 

She’s tall and her hair is fiery red and her skin is… Well, it’s translucent and pale and clammy and…

Well, fuck. She’s dead. Just Waverly’s luck.

Waverly cocked her gun and pointed it at the zombie, but she couldn’t pull the trigger.

Because there was something different here. 

Something seemingly wrong. 

This woman wasn’t charging at her, jaw unhinged, and moaning like the rest. Instead, she just stood there - eyes cloudy, arms swinging lazily at her sides, as if in a trance. 

Waverly frowned. She examined the zombie closely but refused to lower her gun. She had seen what they did to Shorty. She wasn’t going to let one get her too. She couldn’t. She had to get back to camp and find Wynonna and Dolls and Doc and everyone. She wasn’t going to die here.

She refused to die here.

But something about this one…. Something about this woman made her feel safe, like she was being protected. She eyed her cautiously. 

The zombie was in a tattered and torn police uniform. A small little pin was clipped to her uniform reading…

“Officer… Officier Haught, huh,” Waverly looked down and saw on the belt was a pistol. A weapon like that could help the camp… She glanced back up, debating herself silently. She couldn’t believe she was actually thinking about it. Why the Hell was she actually thinking about it? She should not be -

“God, I’m a fucking idiot,” she cursed under her breath and with no further hesitation grabbed the gun as quickly as she could and leaped backwards holding the weapons to her chest. “Fuck,” She tried to get her breathing under control. She didn’t normally do stupid shit like that. That was Wynonna. She just went full Wynonna. She took a deep breath and pointed her gun at the zombie, but…

There was nothing wrong. There was no danger. 

She wasn’t charging at her or moaning and groaning ready to kill her. She wasn’t angry or hungry or anything really. 

The zombie did nothing. She just stood there. Her eyes seemed to be thousands of miles away, perfectly content. Waverly had never seen this before. A peaceful zombie. A zombie who somehow saved her and didn’t bite her and didn’t hurt her… And… 

Against the screaming in her mind, she lowered the gun. 

“Uh, thank you, Haught,” Waverly murmured. She slowly backed up towards the door, keeping her eyes glued to the woman. “It was nice to meet…you. I guess… Uh, thanks for saving me,” She forced a smile, but it was weird to smile when you’re caked in blood and you’re holding a shotgun.

She ran out before anything else could happen, but as she made the walk back to camp, she couldn’t help but replay the last few seconds…

Something was bothering her. 

She could have sworn Haught smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Send me more prompts at gayywords on Tumblr! I love all y’all!


	3. Tie Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ever since that trailer where Haught was wearing a tie came out, I haven't read any fanfic where Waverly pulls Nicole by the tie for a Kiss

Nicole comes home, beat and tired. The thing is when you plan to replace the sheriff, that usually means you have to work harder, be smarter, and work longer than everyone else. Nicole comes home, exhausted. She’s in a new uniform. 

Apparently, Nedley wants to be more professional, and he wants the whole department to look professional too which would be fine except Nicole really liked her other uniform before. And she knows Waverly liked it a lot too. Which is just great. It’s all just great.

Nicole gets home and throws her jacket on the hook. The homestead is home. It has been for a long time, but it’s just sort of sinking in.

“Anyone here?”

“I am! I am! I’ll be there in a minute! I’m just – “ And there’s Waverly. Long hair-for-days flowing behind her as she runs down the stairs to meet her girlfriend, and just as she reaches the bottom step, she freezes up.

“Yeah. Yeah. I know. I look disgusting,” Nicole mumbles a little sheepish. “And we got these new uniforms. And I know. I know. You liked the other one, but I couldn’t do anything,”

Waverly strides forward.

“Baby, I’ll just change real quick and we can go – “

And Waverly grabs her by the tie and pulls her forward and they’re kissing.

“Uniform on,” Waverly whispers against her skin.

“Uniform on,” Nicole obeys. “Is it – “  
“The tie,”

“Yup. The tie,” Nicole nods dumbly.

“Come on,” And Waverly takes her by her tie and pulls forward, up the stairs. And Nicole remains obedient and follows every step of the way. Maybe this uniform wasn’t all that bad.


	4. Vanilla Dipped Donuts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nicole wakes up first early in the morning with Waverly cuddled up next to her and Waverly just mumbles "vanilla dipped donuts" and bites her neck.

Mornings with Waverly went from being a dream to a wonderful reality. Nicole would wake up and there would be sun streaming down on Waverly’s bare form, and she would get up and run her fingers through long brown hair. She would listen to Waverly, softly snoring. 

Sometimes, Waverly would wake up before her, and she would wake up to her face being peppered with kisses or feeling fingers in her red hair and brushing against her face or she’d wake up to Waverly’s soft humming. 

Sometimes, Wynonna would wake up before both of them. She’d stomp in the room and shout something either drunkenly or soberly at them that it stirs them both. Sometimes, it would be an emergency – a demon attack or a kidnapping or a killer. But it usually wasn’t. It was usually Wynonna’s attempt to wake them up so Waverly would come down and make breakfast. Or Wynonna would want someone to train with or she just wanted some company.

Nicole learned a lot about Waverly just by sleeping with her every night. She learned that Waverly slept on her side. She learned that Waverly talked a little in her sleep. She would whispers things or mumble things. Sometimes, she has nightmares. She has times where she screams, where she kicks, where she scratches and claws and yells. Those nights were tougher. Those nights, Nicole took Waverly and slowly rocked her and kept her company and tried to keep her safe, but it was hard to keep Waverly safe from things that were in Waverly’s minds.

She slept beside with Waverly and she would think of their future, dream of their little brunette and red head kids, dream of a little slice of suburbia just cut out of them. She wondered if Waverly dreamt of those things too.

Today, she didn’t wake to kisses or Wynonna interrupting or fingers in her hair or gentle rocking or drunken yelling or nightmares or screams. She woke up slowly and then quickly. She woke up slowly and suddenly she feels teeth softly digging into her neck. Her eyes snap open, and it’s Waverly.

“Hmm, ‘mm… Vanilla dipped donuts…” Waverly mumbles.

“Baby,”

“Mmhmm,”

“Baby,” Nicole slowly shakes her girlfriend. And her heart melts as big brown flutter open. And, honestly, Nicole could see a future in those eyes. She could see years and years. And she could see herself waking up to this woman day after day. She could see everything. But then Waverly’s eyes close and she snuggles deeper into Nicole.

“Baby,” Nicole says softly. “Baby, you’re biting me,”

“Hmmm,”

“Baby?”

“…five more,” Waverly whispers. Her breath hot against Nicole’s skin.

“Baby? You’re still biting me,”

“…vanilla dipped donuts…”

Nicole laughs before she gives her girlfriend a soft shake.

“Baby?”

Waverly’s eyes flutter open, and her teeth slowly release from their grip. And Nicole can’t help but laugh again because there’s a blush reaching Waverly’s cheeks and she looks so cute.

“Sorry,” Waverly says. “It’s… You smell like vanilla dipped donuts, and – “ And she is giggling into Nicole’s side. And Nicole really does think she can wake up every morning with this –

The door slams open. “UP AND AT ‘EM, BABYGIRL AND HAUGHT!” Wynonna bellows. She storms into the room. And Nicole throws her head back on the pillow, and she laughs loudly, because, yeah, this was her life now and she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.


	5. Panic Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post 3x01, Nicole has a panic attack after seeing the Cult of Bulshar symbol and Waverly comforts her

It’s that symbol. It’s the damn symbol. It’s in Nicole’s head. And once it’s in there, she can’t get it out. No. She can’t get it out. Not even as it tugs at memories, repressed memories, hidden memories. Not even as it pries at things she had forgotten. She’s remembering. She’s remembering. Carnage. Blood. Because of that symbol. That damn symbol.

And suddenly, her brain just stops working, and her chest is heaving, and she can’t breathe. She can’t breathe. Why can’t she breathe?

And she feels warm hands on her. It’s Waverly. She knows Waverly. And Waverly is pulling her from the symbol. That damn symbol. And Waverly is talking to her. Her Waverly. She knows Waverly. But her brain isn’t working. It’s stopped working and she’s stopped breathing. She’s just choking, choking on air, choking on memories as they bubble and pop in her head.

Waverly takes her to the bathroom, and before she knows it, Nicole’s legs start working on their own volition. And she’s locked herself in a stall. And she’s sitting down and trying to breathe.

“Nicole?” She hears Waverly softly knocking on the stall. “Nicole, baby, let me in,”

But Nicole can’t. Nicole can’t. Nicole can’t.

“Alright, well…” And she can hear Waverly pacing outside. She can see her boots moving back and forth and back and forth. “I’m going to be right here when you’re ready. Okay? I’m right here,”

Nicole presses her hands against the sides of the stalls, trying to breathe, choking on air.

“In and out, baby. In and out,”

Nicole listens to her girlfriend’s voice. In and out. In and out.

“Nicole,” Waverly says in a soft voice. “You’ve always been my rock. You’ve always been someone I can depend on. B-But, I want to be that for you. I want to be your rock. I want to help. If you’ll let me…” And there’s a pause, and the pacing has stopped, and Nicole’s trying to breathe and it’s getting easier but still difficult because that damn symbol keeps popping in her head, tugging at things that were left forgotten. “Nicole? Can you hear me?”

And maybe it’s the way Waverly said it. Maybe it’s the need for comfort, for a rock. Maybe it’s because the symbol is fading for just a second. Maybe it’s love. But Nicole reaches forward, unlocks the stall, and with a weak hit, allows the door to squeak open slowly.

Waverly is standing in front of her with a sad smile.

“Oh, baby,” she whispers. She sticks her hand out. “Come here,”

And Nicole takes her girlfriend’s hands. They’re warm. They’re warm and they’re comforting. And they’re here. They’re here.

“It’s going to be okay, baby. Okay? In and out. In and out,” Waverly coaches her. “You’re going to get through this,”

Nicole nods. Nicole nods.

“Okay,” she finally croaks. She’s going to get through this. She’s going to get through this, because, if anything, Nicole Haught is a survivor. Nicole is a survivor. The survivor. And she will get through this with Waverly’s help.


	6. The Elf Costume

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: we’ve seen Nicole as an elf but how about a backstory on how waves convinced her to do it

The holiday season was supposed to be fun. It was going to be Nicole and her new, weird family. Dolls and Jeremy and Doc and Wynonna would come over for dinner and Waverly and Nicole would be cooking. There would be wood in the fireplace and a Christmas tree fully decorated with even some pop culture-styled ornaments for Jeremy’s enjoyment. And there would be the menorah on the table beside it, and Nicole would get to spend time with people she loved most.

But then, Nedley was dressed up as Santa and he was heading down to the elementary school, and someone had to be the elf.

So, Waverly signed up Nicole.

Except, Nicole had no idea. No idea until Lonnie is dropping off a ridiculous elf costume on her desk, and Nicole has to keep her eyes from bulging out as he hands her the elf ears she has to wear.

“Are you kidding me?” Nicole yelps as she storms the BBD office.

“Shit! What happened? Where the bad guys?” Wynonna jumps, but Nicole shakes her head.

“Waverly, here, signed me up to be an elf! I have to wear – “ She lifts the elf ears up. “ - _these_!”

Wynonna settles back in her seat, grinning from ear to ear, clearly enjoying this. If she had a bowl of popcorn, she would be eating it like crazy right now.

“Baby, it’s for the kids!” Waverly says, hands raised in mock surrender. “Don’t you remember when you were little and you would wait for Santa?”

“I’m Jewish!” Nicole reminds her.

“Listen, they needed volunteers! And I’m volunteering too!” Waverly insists. She lifts up her costume – red and white and black buckle. “I’m Mrs. Claus!”

“Well, that’s much more flattering than my elf suit,” Nicole frowns. “Switch with me,”

“What? No! I have more Christmas cheer!” Waverly yelps, clutching the outfit to her chest with an iron grip.

“Waves,” Nicole pouts. “Let me be Mrs. Claus!”

“No!”

“Waves!”

“You’re Jewish! You don’t even like Santa!”

“I like Santa just fine! I just didn’t wait for him to break into my house like you did!”

“Well, we didn’t have that part,” Wynonna brings up. “Mama once tried to hire someone to be a Santa, but Willa and I got sort of confused and chased him out of the house for being on our land. So our Santa just sort of…knocked politely on the door and was escorted in while staring down the barrel of Peacemaker,”

“Or so daddy said,” Waverly brings up. “Once Mama was gone, there was no more Santa. There was just…nothing. But I’ve always loved Christmas. I loved Santa and Mrs. Claus and I always waited for them to come back. And when I lived with Aunt Gus, they did. Curtis and her would dress up for me even though I knew the truth by then,”

“Oh,” Nicole hesitates a moment.

“Mrs. Claus is my connection to both my mama and my Aunt Gus,” Waverly says with the biggest puppy eyes.

Nicole stares down at her elf costume for a long moment before she looks up again. “Let me be Mrs. Claus,”

“ _Nicole_!” Waverly squawks. “I just told you my sad backstory!”

“Well, thank you for telling me, but I still want to be Mrs. Claus!”

“Alright! Alright! Truce! You be the elf. I’ll be Mrs. Claus, and I’ll do that _thing_ you like,”

“Alright, that’s my cue to leave before I vomit on you two,” Wynonna says, standing up abruptly. “This conversation is no longer fun. Call me when you stop reenacting cliché chick flicks,” Wynonna storms out but not before she notices how red Nicole’s face had gotten.

\---

When Wynonna comes back to BBD, holding a coffee and staring at Nicole fully gowned in her elf-entire, pointy ears and all, she can’t help but smile.

“You are so whipped, Haught,”

“Shut up,” But Nicole knows she is too.


	7. If Jeremy Was In Season One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: a fan of the TV show ends up in the WE universe during season 1 events. And because the fan knows what happens in season 2 he/she helps the gang through it whilst still freaking out that he/she is working with there fav characters. Also the gang is super skeptical but start to believe he/she after she recites past events perfectly with out being there in person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a hard time with this prompt. Writers block was being a bitch and I didn’t know how to exactly get at it. But, I realized who is a bigger fan of Wynonna Earp than our very own Jeremy!
> 
> At the season 2 finale, the show alludes to Jeremy being either  
> Clairvoyant or something because he was able to know information without anyone telling him. He just knew, as he said. 
> 
> So this is just a short one shot if Jeremy was clairvoyant and helping our Earps out during episode 1x08 and 1x09

There’s something about Purgatory that Jeremy found rather predictable. Maybe it was the way Nedley went to happy hour like clockwork or he knew just when Wynonna would say something snarky.

Jeremy found a lot of things predictable actually. Ever since his accident.

—-

It was the night of Jack the Ripper. It was the night Wynonna and Nicole were drinking in the office and Jeremy was in his BBD lab coat, running through files, and across town Waverly Earp was throwing a party.

He didn’t pay much attention. He didn’t pay much attention until Wynonna was storming in with a bottle of whiskey and blood running down her nose.

“Damn flat footed fucking rookie with a stupid hat,” Wynonna grunted. 

“Wynonna?”

Wynonna stills for a moment, and Jeremy freezes.

“Yeah?” she asks, voice harsh. 

“Nicole likes pancakes,”

“I don’t give a fuck what Haught likes,”

“If you ask, she’ll say yes,”

Wynonna stares at him for a long moment. Her eyes are cold and distant. 

“You’re a weird dude, Jeremy,”

But Jeremy just hums to himself. Even Wynonna, outrageous and loud, was predictable. They’ll have breakfast, he thinks, when Wynonna finally cools down. She’ll ask, he just knew it. As for the pancakes, well, everyone likes pancakes. 

—-

He didn’t see Jack the Ripper coming. He didn’t see Nicole in a hospital bed or Waverly freaking out or Wynonna being kidnapped. He’s a little disappointed himself, but he helps them find her.

“Just get the blueprints for the sewage tunnels,” he tells Waverly. “There are tunnels there that were used for prohibition,”

“What? Why would Jack be there?”

“Just trust me,” Jeremy says. And he looks into Waverly’s big brown eyes. And she looks into his.

“If you’re wrong, we will waste valuable seconds that we need to use to find her,” she says softly. 

“I’m not wrong,” Jeremy assures her. 

“How do you know?”

“I’m not wrong,” he says again 

—-

They find her. They find Wynonna. And she’s a little worse for wear. And she takes Jack to Hell and suddenly she’s on a bender. Jeremy slips a condom in her pocket when she isn’t looking, because Wynonna, loud and brash, is predictable. And Jeremy knows she’ll go to Pussy Willows. And Jeremy knows she’ll seek comfort in someone. And Jeremy knows she’ll need the protection. 

—

Waverly takes Jeremy out to eat. She chilly. She had been driving by Officer Haught to the dinner and her hands are in big mittens and she tells Jeremy she was walking outside when Haught picked her up. Waverly sits across from him and it’s clear she’s a woman on a mission, because while Jeremy has forgotten their previous exchange, Waverly hadn’t.

“How did you know?”

“What?”

“About Wynonna being kidnapped and held in the old prohibition tunnels,”

“I just knew,” 

“Jeremy, how did - “

“I know about you and Nicole,” he says and he watches her whole face morph into confusion and horror.

“Are you _blackmailing_ me?” Waverly asks with wide eyes.

“What? No! Oh my God! I’m so sorry! I’m not! I’m not!” Jeremy yelps. “I promise! I just - I know Nicole likes you too, and I know things are changing, but you guys are not meant to be just friends,”

Waverly stares at me for a long moment. “How do you... How...”

“I just know, Waverly,” Jeremy smiles softly. “But I would stop at Shorty’s before you go,”

Waverly frowns. “Go where, Jeremy?”

“To get your girl,”


	8. Insecure About Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How about Waverly and Nicole sleeping (just sleeping) together for the first time and talking about sex and Waverly's insecurities because she never enjoyed sex with Champ and she thinks she is broke, or something? Of course Nicole offers herself to show her she's not, IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN...

Nicole comes over after the poker spectacular. And Waverly is a little flirty. Okay. A _lot_ flirty, but she just can’t help it. Nicole is looking at her like… _that_ and Waverly knows she’s not being subtle either. So they flirt. They hang out together, and then Waverly, and then they sleep together.

No. Not _sleep_. Just sleep. Just passing out on the same bed, hands intertwined.

Just sleep.

Waverly had intended for more. She knew she wanted more. She was kissing Nicole. Nicole was kissing back. There was touching. There was shirts that were tentatively undone. And there was belts thrown on the floor. And then Nicole was kissing her neck. And it felt good. Really good, and then Waverly said “stop”. Well, she didn’t exactly say it.

She shouted it which scared both of them, and immediately caused Nicole to jump back, hands up.

“Sorry. Sorry,” Nicole stammered. “Did I do something that – “

“No! No, it was good. It was fine. It was fine. It’s just…” Waverly fiddled with her hands.

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

Yes, Waverly wanted to say.

“No,” Waverly actually said. She cleared her throat awkwardly. Here she was, shirtless, in front of a beautiful girl she actually liked and she was just too scared to say what was on her mind.

“Do you want me to go or – “

“Stay,” Waverly said. That she was sure of. “Stay, please. For me?”

And Nicole’s whole face softened. “I would love to,”

So Nicole stayed, and they talked. Waverly talked about her past. About how mean Ward was, cruel when he was drunk. She talked about Mama and the songs she used to sing and her times at the rodeo circuit. She talked about growing up with Wynonna and Willa. And then, growing up alone. Nicole talked too.

“When I was younger, I – “ And her whole face twisted like the memory was painful, untouchable. “I, um… Sorry. I can’t remember what I was going to say,” So Nicole didn’t talk about when she was young. She talked about the Nicole Haught of a few months back. The Nicole Haught that walked into Waverly’s bar. She talked about how she was top of her class in the big city, how Nedley recruited her. She talked about how she had dinner with Nedley and Chrissy.

“We’re probably the weirdest bunch you’ve ever seen,” Nicole teased.

Waverly laughed. She couldn’t wait until Nicole saw the BBD gang. Now, _that_ was a weird bunch.

And then, somewhere, somehow, in the middle of one of their discussions – Waverly was pretty sure they were in the middle of discussing the season finale of Killing Eve – when things just went dark. And when Waverly opened her eyes, she was still shirtless, she was still in her room, and Nicole was there too. Head smothered in a pillow, sleeping on her stomach, bare skin revealed, and sunlight streaming in.

They had fallen asleep. They had slept together.

Just sleep.

Innocent sleep.

“Nicole. Nicole, you up?”

Nicole just hums.

“Nicole, Wynonna’s coming,”

Nicole’s eyes flew open and she nearly fell out of bed. Waverly can’t help but laugh at the bewildered look on the redhead’s face as she surverys the room, fully expecting Wynonna and a bottle of whiskey to pop out of somewhere.

“I was just kidding,” Waverly says. “You can relax now,”

“That was mean,” Nicole says, but she has an amused smile on her face. She plops back onto the bed and her eyes are starting to close again.

“Nicole,”

“Waverly,”

“Can we talk?”

“We spent all night talking. Now, it’s time for sleep,”

“Nicole,”

“Waverly,”

“It’s serious,” Waverly says. “I… I-I really need to say this and if I don’t say this now, I don’t think I’ll ever say it,”

That got Nicole’s attention. She rolls over on her back, eyes open and curious. She props her head up with a hand and with a quirk of a brow, it’s clear she wishes Waverly to continue. But the thing is, Waverly isn’t even sure if she can continue. She just feels her heart beating out of her chest. She feels Nicole’s soft gaze on her. She feels the warm morning light on her skin. She feels embarrassed and scared and nervous. And there’s so much she wants to say. And there’s so much she wants to keep to herself. But Nicole is looking at her with those eyes, with that soft look, and Waverly can physically feel the walls crumble.

“I’m broken,”

“No, you’re not,”

“Wait, Nicole. Just – “ She takes a deep breath. “Just hear me out,” She looks down at her hands, because she can’t look at Nicole. Not right now. Not when Nicole is look at her like _that_. “I… I had a boyfriend,”

“It’s the worst,” Nicole nods.

“Yeah,” Waverly laughs nervously. “Yeah, it was. Champ. Well, obviously, you know that because – “

“Of all the PDA during Shorty’s funeral?”

Waverly nods, ignoring the blush creeping up. “Sorry…about that,” She takes a deep breath. “Well, see that’s part of the thing. Okay. So,” She tries to speak but she shakes her head. She shouldn’t say this. “Sorry. Sorry. I don’t know what I was saying,”

“Yes you do,” Nicole says. And suddenly Nicole takes Waverly’s hands. “Whatever you have to say, Waverly Earp, you can say it to me. I want to know you. Every little piece of you,”

“Well, I would, um… Okay… Well, Champ and I had sex,”

Nicole winces. “I assumed,” she says though.

“Yeah, um. We had sex, but I never… I never liked it and….yeah,”

“So because of that…you think you’re broken?” Nicole frowns as she tries to put the pieces together. Waverly just nods. And she feels so stupid. So embarrassed. She shouldn’t have said it. She ruined this. She ruined this with Nicole. She ruined it all. But Nicole is still thinking before she breaks into a smile.

“You’re not broken, Waverly,”

“What?”

“You’re not broken, Waverly. At all. There’s nothing wrong with you. At all. Champ just might be horrible or there was no emotional connection or you don’t like men or you just might be asexual,” Nicole said.

“Asexual?”

“Well, they are the A of LGBTQA+,” Nicole says with a small smile. “Asexuals don’t experience sexual attraction. And that’s okay. It’s normal,”

“Oh,” Waverly thinks it over. “But, um, Nicole. I don’t think I’m asexual,”

“Hm?”

“I think I’m gay,”

Nicole smile widens. “Oh,”

“Because ever since this – “ Waverly motions to the two of them vaguely with finger. “ – started I just… I can’t help but think about us having… Well, I want… I mean, if you want to… I would like to – “

“You want to sleep with me?”

Waverly nods, but she freezes. “Wait. Nicole. I mean, like, _sleep_ together not like – “

Nicole laughs. “Yeah, Waverly. I got it,”

“But I, uh… I don’t know…how… I mean, it’s different for two women, right?”

“Hm, yeah, but I’ll show you,” Nicole winks.

“So you want to…um… _sleep_ with me too?”

“Of course, Waverly. You’re beautiful. I am head over heels for you. I’ve wanted to sleep with you ever since I met you in Shorty’s,” Nicole flinches. “Sorry, that sounded way more romantic in my head,”

“No! No! I…” Waverly smiles. “I liked it, because I, uh… I feel the same way,”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,”

Nicole is still smiling, big and shiny. “You know, you’re cute when you’re like this,” she says.

“Like what?”

“All flustered and nervous,”

“Well, I can’t help it when you’re like this,”

“And what am I like?” Nicole asks with a grin.

“Smug and charismatic,” Waverly says. She leans forward and kisses Nicole, and Waverly melts.

“We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for,” Nicole says as they part. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Waverly says. “B-But, I think I’m ready. For this. For…you,”

Nicole nods and shimmies forward, and they kiss again. They kiss and Waverly is on fire. Already, one kiss with Nicole felt like fireworks when a kiss with Champ felt like…well…nothing. And Waverly knows if just one kiss with Nicole could feel like this, sleeping with her would be _everything_ , but there was no rush. There was just them. And that was enough. And that was everything.

And that was everything to them.


	9. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Wayhaught first date?

Waverly sits down and she can’t help giggle as she reads Nicole’s text message. She likes that Nicole is thinking about her. She likes that Nicole can’t stop thinking about their kiss. It makes Waverly’s skin tingle. But her phone buzzes. And her heart freezes.

 _Waverly Earp, will you go on a date with me?_ , the message read.

 _Sure_ , Waverly types. She hesitates. Does that sound too hesitant? Maybe she’ll add an exclamation, but just one. She didn’t want to seem desperate. _Where?_ , she asks, but Nicole just responded with two words.

 _It’s a surprise_.

\---

Nicole picks her up from the homestead in a dark truck, and Waverly has to admit it’s comforting that her new girlfriend can cross the boundary line without problem. She’s wearing this blue button-down and black, tight jeans, and Waverly feels like she might be drooling a little.

“You ready?”

“You going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope,”

“Alright,” Waverly sits down in the passenger’s seat and does the most dramatic sigh she can muster which gets Nicole to smile. “You’re lucky I trust you,”

“I’m certainly lucky,”

\---

“We’re not leaving the Ghost River Triangle, right?”

“Hm?” Nicole looks over quickly before her gaze goes back to the road. “No. No. It’s just a little past here,”

“Can you tell me where we’re going?”

“No!” Nicole laughs. “That will take all the fun out of this!”

“Nicole!” Waverly says and she puts on her best pout. “Please?”

“Nope,”

“Well, will you tell me if I’m dressed correctly or not?” Waverly looks down at herself. She’s wearing her date night sweater that’s warm and comfortable and tight jeans and her Ugg boots.

“You’re fine,” And then Nicole smiles. “You look beautiful, Waverly,”

“You do too, _Office Haught_. God, I could just rip that – “

“Seducing me will not get you any answers to where we’re going,”

“Damn it!”

\---

“Nicole,”

“Yes?”

“Can we play a question came while you drive?”

“Alright, but we got only ten minutes to go,” Nicole says cautiously like she just knows Waverly’s up to something.

Waverly squeals in excitement. “Okay! Okay. So I’m going to ask you a word and you have to answer with the first thing on your mind. Ready?”

Nicole has a perplexed look in her face, but she nods.

“Okay,” Waverly takes a deep breath. “Nedley?”

“Boss,”

“Wynonna?”

“Ass,”

“Dolls?”

“Marshall,”

“Doc?”

“Cowboy,”

“Waverly?”

“Cute,”

Waverly blushes. And Nicole does too, but she keeps going with the game.

“Alright. Shorty’s bar?”

“Beer,”

“Favorite color?”

“Blue,”

“Dog or cat?”

“Cat,”

“First date?”

“Nice try,”

And Waverly groans loudly and hangs her head. “Damn it,”

\---

“We’re here,” Nicole says. She puts the car in park and hops out. “Come on,”

“Here?” Waverly looks around. “A parking lot?”

“The place is just up there. Come on,” Nicole says with a smile. She takes Waverly by the hand and excitement and fear are riding up in Waverly’s chest as they turn the corner and –

Waverly’s mouth drops.

“W-What is this place?”

“A little antique bookshop I found in the city when I was living here. Figured you’d appreciate it,”

“Nicole… I…”

“They even have some books in Latin and some old stuff that no one has touched in years,” Nicole says, and she looks a little sheepish and nervous as her hands go up to her head to play with her hair. “Look, I know it isn’t a traditional first date thing. But there’s this really nice coffee shop across the street, and you still owe me a cappuccino,” Nicole hesitates. “Oh crap. You hate it, don’t you? Shit. I’m sorry, Waves. I’m no good at – “

“Nicole, I love it,” Waverly whispers. She whips around and looks at Nicole – her nervous and hopeful expression, her red hair, her freckles, her big brown eyes.

“Really?”

“Really,” Waverly nods. She looks back at the building and then back at Nicole. “God, it’s perfect. You’re… You’re perfect,” And Waverly leans forward and kisses Nicole. And she grabs her hand.

“Come on! We have a first date to go on!” she squeals.

Nicole laughs, loud and bositrously, and lets herself be pulled into the store and into the world of the Earps.


	10. Extended Rooftop Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “would it be possible to write what could have happened if Wynonna hadn’t interrupted Wayhaught when they were on the roof with the gun in 301? Maybe a bit of teasing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post 3x01. Enjoy! :)

“Yeah, soviet precision. You barely grazed him!”

“Wow. So competitive,”

“So cocky,”

Nicole nose inches from Waverly’s skin. There might be the sound of combat below but all Nicole could hear was Waverly’s breathy moan as she turned her face.

“You know, you don’t have to be the best at everything,” Waverly says. But here eyes are on Nicole’s lips.

“I can think of one thing I’m really good at,” And Nicole lets their lips meet. And it’s deep and it’s passionate, and God, Nicole wants more. Want to grabs at Waverly’s warm, fluffy coat and just make her scream her name, but Wynonna is right down there. And sex is fun and all but getting shot in the face and getting sent to Hell just isn’t worth the risk.

Waverly breaks the kiss, pressing a hand to Nicole’s chest. “God. You are _so_ getting it when we get home,”

“I can definitely think of one thing I’d like to get,” Nicole teases.

Waverly laughs a little breathlessly. “You’re awfully smug for someone who’s so whipped,”

“Whipped?” Nicole smiles like a shark. “Waves, baby, you know I’m more of handcuffs kind of girl,”

Waverly blushes. “Nicole,” she scolds in a quiet voice. But she’s got fire in her eyes and a smirk on her lips. “That’s not the only thing I know about you,”

“Huh, is that so?”

“Hmm,” Waverly hums. “I know you like it when I…do…this…” And Waverly leans in for a kiss and her fingers pull at Nicole’s hair, pulling her forward, and Nicole melts in her hand like putty.

They break after a minute. Waverly’s eyes are dark and hungry and wanting more.

“Wynonna’s done,” Nicole says, glancing at her phone. “Dolls just texted me. They’re heading to the office. All of them,”

“So we can go home?” Waverly grins devilishly.

Nicole just bobs her head up and down. She really is whipped.


	11. Nicole Goes Vegan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Nicole is Waverlys guinea pig when it comes to trying new vegan foods and even though they taste bad or include something Nicole dosen’t like she eats the food anyway because she is the best gf and wants Waverly to be happy? (The vegan pizza in s1 and the pickles in s2) Bonus if you could get Wynonna in there as the one who finally lets the secret out and also gives them couples cooking lessons or something”

Nicole has known she’s gay for a long time so she’s pretty well acquainted with all the lesbian stereotypes. And from what’s put together, people assume all lesbians are flannel-wearing, UHaul-ing, Subaru-driving vegans. 

Honestly, people are so clueless. Nicole doesn’t understand where are these stereotypes even came from.

Although, she does wear flannel. A lot of it. And, well, she did get married to Shae after only a few weeks of knowing her. And, goddamnit, a Subaru Outback is a sensible car! But a vegan? That’s the one thing Nicole is not.

But Waverly is.

“Ooh, babe. You’re gonna love this!” Waverly squeals shoving a spoonful of weird-grey-flavorless and usually bean-related food into her mouth.

“Delicious,” Nicole lies. She waits until Waverly’s out of earshot before she gags. 

“Look what I got - gluten-free pizza!” Waverly had shouted.

Nicole happened to like her gluten. Gluten hasn’t done anything bad to her. “Great,” she said through a strained smile. “I love...gluten-free, cheese-less, bread with sauce. Yum,”

Waverly wasn’t too convinced by that performance. So after that Nicole tried harder. 

As her ice cream turned into some frozen soy cream. And her milk turned to almond. And her whole kitchen became gluten-free and vegan. Well, it was getting harder and harder to pretend like Nicole wasn’t dying inside. It’s actually getting to a point where Nicole would actually kill for a hamburger. Of course, not literally. She’s a cop first and foremost but she would be lying if she said she didn’t think about tackling Doc to the floor when he pulled out a steak in the middle of dinner last week. 

Persevere, Haught. Persevere. She only had to do this for.....the rest of her life. 

Nicole is the middle of eating, or at least trying to eat, Waverly’s eggplant lasagna when Wynonna slams her fork on the table. 

“Alright this was fun and all, but Waverly take a moment to look at your girlfriend,”

“What?” Waverly frowns. 

“She’s a walking-talking, Ghost-white stick figure! She’s miserable!”

“I am not!” Nicole lies. “I love...eggplant instead of beef,”

“No you don’t!”

“Yes I do!”

“Dude, I’m trying to help you,” Wynonna groans. “Okay. Okay. You like that stuff so much? Huh? Here take a big helping and swallow it down,”

“Oh, I had so much to eat already - “

“Eat it, Haught!”

“Nicole, you skipped lunch today,” Waverly frowns. 

“Guys, I’m - “

Wynonna picks up the fork and draws it closer to Nicole. And honestly, Wynonna trying to force feed Nicole eggplant is far more intimidating and frightening than staring down the barrel of Peacemaker.

“Eat it!” Wynonna taunts. 

And the fork is getting closer. And Wynonna’s smile is more malicious. 

“NO!” Nicole jumps back. “No! Waverly, baby, I love you. I love you a ton, but I need meat. I need gluten. My iron levels are miserably low. I’ve been dreaming of burgers and steaks. And all night I’ve been thinking about stealing Wynonna’s food,”

“Dude, get your own chicken,” Wynonna frowns. But Nicole’s more focused on her girlfriend.

“I’m so sorry,” she insists. “I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings,”

“Oh, baby,” Waverly laughs softly. “You don’t _have_ to eat foods you don’t like. You aren’t hurting my feelings,” And Waverly laughs again. It’s her you’re-being-ridiculous laugh and Nicole is a little embarrassed to admit she’s heard it enough to name it. Waverly leans forward, brushing a hand on Nicole’s arm. “It hurts me to see you not happy. That’s what hurts me. Okay? I never want you to be something you’re not,”

“Okay. So I can... I can eat meat?”

“Yes, you can,”

“And I go get a burger?”

“Yes, Nicole,” Waverly snickers. 

“Oh thank God,” Nicole hangs her head in relief. “Alright. I’ll see y’all later,”

“Wait where are you going?” Waverly yelps. “We’re still eating,”

Nicole turns around, red faced. “I’m sorry, baby, but I need to get a burger as soon as possible,”

“Ooh,” Wynonna jumps from the table. “I’m coming with,”

“Well,” Waverly drops her fork. “If they have a veggie burger, I’m down,” She slings her coat over her shoulders. “You know, you and I should do a cooking class. Maybe we can find some meat-substitutes that you’ll actually like,” But Nicole doesn’t respond for a long moment. “Nicole?”

“Hm?”

“You were daydreaming about meat again weren’t you!”

“It’s been weeks, Waverly! Weeks!”

And Wynonna can’t help but laugh at the two. Because Nicole might not be a stereotypical lesbian, but she was definitely a useless gay when it came to her girlfriend.


	12. Jealous Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “The whole gang is out together for dinner but a cute waitress keeps flirting with Nicole and even gives Nicole her number and Waverly gets jealous and Nicole assures her that she loves her and there's nothing to worry about *cue comforting conversation*”

Nothing horrible could possibly happen while getting Chinese food, Waverly believed. Maybe she was being naive. Maybe she was being stupid. But when Wynonna said “wanna grab a bite” and the whole gang piled into the car, Waverly thought _finally a break_. 

Except she was wrong. She was wrong, because they’re in the middle of ordering when the waitress’s hand lingers a little too long on Nicole’s shoulder. And eyes are lingering a little too long. And Nicole is _blushing_.

And suddenly, Waverly feels more tense than she does in the middle of a demon battle. 

“Looks like someone is hot for Haught,” Wynonna teases. And it’s a joke and Nicole laughs, but Waverly can’t find it funny at all. 

“No,” Nicole says finally. “She’s just really friendly,” Because of course, Nicole would be that naive. But Earps aren’t. Earps know people and the sisters share a look as Nicole looks down at her menu. 

“So Waves,” Nicole says, eyes light and warm. “How’s that book your reading?”

And Wynonna groans, because Nicole cares. That’s the weird thing about her. She cares about Waverly’s Latin rambling, about what documentary is on Waverly’s mind, about what books she checked out, or what her research uncovered. She just cares and she asks questions and she _cares_. And no one, no one ever really cares. 

Waverly brightens up. “Well, I’ve been reading this book about Woodrow Wilson and - “

But her words die instantly because the cute waitress is heading over. And she’s already got a hand on Nicole’s shoulder.

“Y’all ready to order?”

“Refill on the whiskey and the greasiest thing you got,” Wynonna barks.

“I’ll have the veggie burger,” Waverly says.

And the waitress’s eyes move to Nicole. 

“And you, hon?” 

“Surprise me,” Nicole smiles. And the Earps share another look, because Nicole is naive and charming and sweet. But she’s friendly. Really friendly. And maybe she doesn’t realize it, but the waitress is blushing and taking the menu and looking at her in a way that drives Waverly crazy. 

—-

They finish lunch and the rest of it goes by surprisingly uneventful. No Revenants came charging through. They ate good food and drank good drinks. Just as they were leaving though, the waitress - Cindy according to her name tag - was yelling “Wait!”

Wynonna instinctively put a hand on Waverly’s shoulder out of support. Waves knew if she had to thrown down with this chick over Nicole, Wynonna would have her back. Earps are ride or die like that.

“I was wondering, Red, if you’d come by sometime. I’m in a band and we play here Fridays,”

“A band,” Nicole says, nodding and smiling and being friendly. Too friendly, Waverly thinks. “That’s awesome. Well, I’ll have to swing by then check you out,”

“Yeah,” Cindy laughs. And she has piercings and tattoos and she’s like the anti-Waverly. Waverly was even scared to get her ears pierced and this girl has a lip ring and a nose ring and Waverly’s stunned because if this girl wasn’t hitting on her girlfriend, she’d be so into her. 

“Waves loves live music,”

“Waves?” Cindy’s brow quirks up.

“My girlfriend,” And Nicole points to Waverly, and Waverly heart swells. Because Nicole might be naive and friendly and suave and smooth but she’s head over heels for Waverly Earp. 

—-

They’re at home, leftovers in the fridge, and insecurities running through Waverly’s brain. Wynonna’s asleep and Nicole’s on the couch sipping a beer, and Waverly can’t focus on the movie. She can’t focus because she’s busy. She’s busy thinking.

And Nicole knows it because she’s rubbing circles on Waverly’s back. “What are you thinking right now?”

“I’m thinking...” And Waverly doesn’t know if she should admit this or not. “Are you bored?”

“No. This movie is really good and - “

“I mean, with me,”

“What? Waves, - “

“I’m not in band. All I talk about his history. I don’t have piercings or look cool. I love long walks and looking up at the stars. And I love weird history facts and reading old textbooks and I love learning dead languages,“

“Waves,“ Nicole takes her hand, holding them tight. “Waves, Listen. I love lazy mornings. I love playing with my cat and watching Disney movies and documentaries. I love demon research and listening to things that you’re passionate about because you get this beautiful look in your eyes. And Waverly, most importantly, I love you. Okay?”

And the battle is over. And there’s no more tension, no more stress, no more jealousy, just relief, just love, just understanding. 

“I love you too, Nicole Haught,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Send me prompts at gayywords and thanks for all the comments and love! Y’all are sweet!


	13. Nicole Hides An Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Nicole comes home from work with like broken ribs or some injury and tries to hide it from Waverly bc “it’s not that big a deal babe” and Waverly is pissed and just kind of coddles Nicole against her will as punishment for trying to hide the injury.”

Nicole was stabbed. Lightly. Lightly stabbed. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. One moment she was perfectly normal and the next there was a pocket knife in her. Totally not a big deal.

She had tagged along on a Rev-head mission and then one bastard got the jump on her and suddenly she’s in the hospital, stitches on her stomach, and Wynonna driving her home.

“Waverly is going to lose it,” Wynonna huffs as she pushes the door open. “What are you going to do?”

“It’ll be fine, Earp,” Nicole scoffs, slamming the door, but she knows Wynonna is right. Because Waverly is fierce and protective and wonderful. And did Nicole say protective yet? Because being overprotective is kinda hardwired in all Earps’ DNA. And it’s not that Nicole is ungrateful. It’s just that _she’s_ supposed to be the protector. 

Nicole liked to be the big, tough one. She likes to be the rock. 

So the second she stepped into her house, Calamity Jane is coming up and Waverly is sitting on the couch with a book on her lap. “Hey, babe. You look good,” 

Honestly, Nicole’s new uniform is doing wonders for her sex life because Waverly is striding over her her hungry eyes. 

“How was work?” But the way Waverly is looking at her, it’s pretty clear Waverly doesn’t particularly care. 

“Good. Good,” Nicole hums and she kisses Waverly gently and then Waverly’s hands are moving and pressing along Nicole’s sides and - 

“FUCK!”

Nicole doubles over, gripping her side, and gritting her teeth. 

“I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!” Waverly shouts. “The hospital called me, Nicole! I’m your emergency contact! And - Wait, did I actually really hurt you? Are you okay? I didn’t mean to - “

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Nicole says. It hurts but it really isn’t that bad. She takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry for - “

“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were done keeping secrets,”

“Because I-I-I didn’t want to - “ But Nicole stops talking and shakes her head.

“What Nicole?”

“It doesn’t matter,”

“Yes it does! You got stabbed and didn’t tell me! That matters!”

“No it - “

“Nicole! Tell me”

“Waves - “

“Tell me!”

“Because I’m your rock!” Nicole shouts out and she doesn’t mean to but it comes out, sharp and loud. “Sorry,” she lowers her voice, taking a shaky breath. “Sorry. It’s just... I’m your rock. You depend on me. And I like being your rock. I like being the protector. And I don’t like... I don’t like being weak,”

“You’re not weak, Nicole. You’ve never been weak,”

“Well,” Nicole plops down on the couch, ignoring the sharp, splitting pain that rips through her side. “Well, sometimes I feel that way. Wynonna is the Earp heir. You’re a genius. Jeremy is....clairvoyant or clairvoyant-adjacent. Dolls is dragon-man and Doc is a cowboy, and I’m... I’m the sheriff’s deputy. I’m a local flatfoot. I’m a rookie cop. I’m...”

“Extraordinary. Strong. Wonderful. Caring. And the love of my life,” Waverly says. “I love you, Nicole Haught. And you have never been just my rock and you have never been weak. You’re Nicole. You’re strong, and so am I. And you can always depend on me. Because I’m your rock too. I’m strong too, and I will always be here for you. Always,”

“Okay,” Nicole says softly. “Okay. I-I love you too, baby,” 

“So next time you get stabbed, you’re going to do what?”

“Tell you,” Nicole says with a shaky laugh.

“Wrong answer. The right answer was ‘don’t get stabbed’,” Waverly grins as she presses a kiss to Nicole’s forehead. “Now as punishment, you, missy, are gonna get cuddled,”

“ _Cuddled_?” Nicole says with mock horror and amusement in her eyes. “Waverly Earp, how could you?”

“Yup. I’m gonna cuddle you, but not before I give you a killer foot massage,” 

“No!”

“And then we’re gonna eat some damn good soup!”

“Waverly, stop!”

“And I’m going to make sure you take your antibiotics and then I’m gonna undress you and put you into bed and make you tea,”

“Tea? Waverly, this is torture,” Nicole says, but she can’t help but giggle. “Thank you, Waverly,”

“Anytime, baby. But seriously, next time, don’t get stabbed,”

Nicole smiles from ear to ear. “I’ll keep that in mind,”


	14. Soulmate AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Can you do a soulmate Wayhaught where you get a mark/tattoo/print of something when your soulmate touches you/indirectly touches you? And like Nicole (for whatever reason) writes her number on Waverly's arm and under the writing is her tattoo/mark/print of her number? Waverly wouldn't know it was Nicole who was her soulmate until Wynonna does something that accidently wipes away part of the number and Waves freaks out until she looks and sees it's still there?“

It starts with little messages. Little scribbles on her wrist.

Nicole Haught is ten years old and she draws a unicorn on her wrist. Her soulmate draws a mermaid.

\---

The messages stop when Nicole is kicked out of her house at twelve. She tells her mom she think her soulmate is a girl. Her mom says no, so Nicole, stubborn and bullheaded writes on her wrist _”are you a girl or boy or neither?” Her soulmate writes “girl”, and Nicole raises her wrist up, wiggling it around proudly, and the next thing she knows there is screaming, there is shouting, and her bag is being packed and Nicole is out on her own._

__

__

So the messages stop. Because Nicole can barely get out of bed. 

_////_

Waverly would wake up her arms being coated in wonderful designs. She would draw back, write back. She sees “ _are you a girl or a boy or neither?_ on her bicep one day and, curious, she responds. She wonders what gender her soulmate is. She knows her soulmate has red hair. At night, she pictures a pretty boy with red hair, but it doesn’t excite her as much as picturing a pretty girl with red hair. 

But around that time, the messages stop. The messages stop, because Wynonna is in jail, and Waverly is twelve years old having to bury her father and her sister. Burglars had broken into the house. Wynonna had grabbed the gun, but Wynonna was young and stupid. And things went terribly wrong. 

So Waverly lives with Gus now. 

So the messages stop. Because Waverly doesn’t have time. Her family, the town, they need her. 

So the messages stop. 

_///_

Nicole becomes a police officer. But not before she can go to Vegas for one last night of craziness, of youthfulness, of being young and dumb. 

She gets married. 

Nicole becomes a police officer and her wife is a doctor and they live in a shitty little apartment. 

Nicole draws a unicorn on her wrist. 

It never appears on Shae’s skin. 

But if Nicole was being honest, she didn’t expect it too. 

_///_

Champ Hardy is her high school sweetheart boyfriend who stays by her when she does online schooling and bartends. He has a straying eye and straying hands, but limited dating options, Waverly thinks. Besides soulmates were overrated anyways. She hadn’t heard from her’s or seen any signs in ages. Just a unicorn a few days ago. A unicorn she didn’t even respond too. 

She’s too old to play pretend. It’s time to play house. To settle down. <

And Champ Hardy doesn’t care about soulmates. Champ Hardy doesn’t really care in general. But limited dating options in a town like this and finding your soulmate is rare. 

Incredibly rare. 

Besides, Curtis wasn’t Aunt Gus’s, but Gus loved him all the same. Waverly could learn to love Champ Hardy. 

_He put up with her Latin, with her constant hunt for degrees, with her quirky family and her cursed surname. If he could put up with her, she could put up with him._

__

__

He snores beside her, and Waverly carefully gets out of bed, trying not to disturb him. 

She could learn to love him, she tells herself. Even though his kisses make her squirm. Even though she feels revolted when they touch. Even though the sex… Well, she didn’t understand what the hype was about. 

She could learn to love him. 

She could. 

_///_

“Purgatory?” Nicole repeats, rereading the email. Someone named Nedley. Randy Nedley. He had reached out to her, giving her a handsome salary. He wanted a deputy. He wanted someone to take over. Nicole looks over at Shae. 

Shae. 

Shae’s packing. She’s saying something. Nicole doesn’t hear it, because Shae’s packing. Shae got a new apartment and a new job and she doesn’t have time for Nicole. And Nicole doesn’t have time for Shae. Because their love burned out like a candle and now there’s nothing but smoke between them, nothing but the reminder of their passion as it lingers around like smoke. 

Nicole runs her hand through her hair. It’s time to leave, she decides. There’s nothing for her here. 

Nicole starts packing too. 

_\---_

Purgatory is cute. It’s small. Cute. Quirky. She gets a nice house that Calamity enjoys. A nice house that barely costs a thing. She could grow old in a house like this. She gets a nice house and a nice job and a nice boss. 

Nedley invites her over for a dinner. It’s the first time she’s going to truly explore Purgatory. 

He decides to give her the run down. 

“You don’t mess with the Gardners. Don’t play poker with Aunt Gus. And don’t go near the Earps,” 

“The Earps?” Nicole frowns. 

“Bunch of cursed girls,” Nedley shakes his head. “Don’t get me wrong. Waverly is the sweetest girl. She’s sunshine in a bottle, but that Wynonna?” He just grunts. 

Nicole can’t help but feel a little curious. 

_\---_

“I didn’t know Shorty’s had wet T-shirts competitions,” is the first thing she says. 

Nedley really undersold Waverly Earp. She’s not just sunshine in a bottle. She’s… She’s _gorgeous_. Nicole can’t take her eyes off of her. 

She leaves and she can’t help but blush. 

Who asks for a cappuccino in a bar? 

_///_

Laying awake in her bed, Waverly can’t think of anything but Nicole Haught. 

She breaks up with Champ Hardy three days later. 

“Why?” he cries. “Why? We were perfect together!” 

“You’re not it for me,” Waverly shrugs. 

She looks down at her skin for new messages. Because Waverly… 

Well, she’s starting to believe in soulmates again. 

She dreams of red hair and dimples and smiles to herself. 

_\---_

They bump into each other after their first encounter at the police station. Waverly was holding a coffee cup and Nicole was just reading a file and suddenly they bump into each other and it’s electricity had rippled through the two. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” Waverly squeaks. “I totally didn’t mean to – Oh man, I spilled coffee all over you!” 

“It’s fine! It’s fine!” Nicole assures her, laughing. She grabs a tissue and rubs her uniform but Waverly lets out an offended yelp. 

“Officer, you can’t – You have to _dab_! Otherwise, it’ll stain. Look just – “ Waverly grabs a tissue and she pushes it forward, pressing it against Nicole’s skin, and Waverly can help but shiver because _are those abs under that uniform that she can feel_. And she looks up and she’s so close to the officer. So close. She smells like coffee and vanilla dipped donuts and Waverly is so close she could just – 

“It’s Nicole,” the officer says in a breathy voice. 

“What?” 

“My name. It’s Nicole,” 

“Oh,” Waverly takes a step back. It’s only a small step back as she tosses the tissue out, but it feels like forever and everything and the universe is between them. She takes a deep breath and forces a smile. “I’m really sorry about – “ She motions vaguely to Nicole’s uniform, but Nicole shakes her head. 

“It’s fine. I should learn where the dry cleaner’s is anyways,” Nicole says. She has a beautiful smile, Waverly notes. 

“Look, what if I pay?” Waverly yelps. Because she would do anything to see Nicole again. She would do anything. 

“Oh, you don’t have to – “ 

“No! No! I want to! I owe you,” Waverly says with a nervous laugh. “I mean, I said I owed you a cappuccino but I don’t think this is what you had in mind,” 

And Nicole laughs, looking down at herself. “Yeah, definitely not,” She looks up. Her brown eyes are so beautiful, Waverly thinks. “Are you sure?” 

“What?” Waverly stiffens. Did Nicole read her thoughts? 

“About paying,” 

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I’ll swing by and pick it up and get it for you. No problem,” Waverly says a little too eagerly. 

“Alright,” Nicole picks up a pen. “Can I see your arm?” 

“Umm, yes. Yes. Here. This is my arm. It’s – “ And Waverly freezes as Nicole starts writing, pressing the tip to her skin. It tickles. Or maybe it tickles because Nicole is holding her arm still with her free hand and it feels electric. “What are – What are you doing?” 

“My number,” Nicole says with a smug smile. “Call me. Okay? I got to head out on patrol but – “ 

“I’ll call. I promise. I’ll call and I’ll… I’ll get that uniform clean. We don’t want Purgatory’s Finest in coffee stains,” Waverly smiles brightly. 

_///_

Nicole sits in the cruiser. She’s quiet. She’s still for a long moment. And then slowly she undid the button on her cuff. Slowly, she began to fold up her sleeve. Slowly. Slowly. And when she looked down, when saw her handwriting in black ink, saw her phone number staring up at her, Nicole wanted to sob in relief. 

Finally. 

Finally. 

Nicole grabs her pen. She writes her number on her other arm and prayed Waverly would see, prayed that Waverly would know what she knew. 

_///_

The Earps are sitting on the porch. It’s been ages since the two have been together. And Waverly likes this. She likes just sitting and listening to her sister’s stories of Athens and travelling. 

“What’s that?” Wynonna points to the number that Nicole had wrote. Even Nicole’s handwriting was cute, Waverly blushes. 

“Nothing,” 

“Ooh. You’re blushing!” Wynonna laughs. “Come on! Let me see!” 

“Wynonna, stop!” 

“Let me – “ 

And Wynonna’s hands grab on the ink but suddenly the last number smudge. Black ink smeared against her fair skin. 

“Wynonna!” Waverly gasps drawing her hand back. “What the Hell?” She lifts up to her face. “Is that a seven or a – WYNONNA!” 

“What? What?” Wynonna raises her hands up in mock surrender. “I was just messin’ around and – “ 

“I can’t read it! I can’t read it! Nicole gave me her number!” 

“Since when are you and Nicole best friends?” 

“And now I can’t even read it! I’m supposed to call and go over and take her uniform to the dry cleaners and now what am I going to do? What am I going to do?” 

“Relax! Relax! She wrote it right there too!” 

“What?” Waverly frowns. She follows Wynonna’s fingers to her upper bicep and freezes. “Nicole didn’t write that…” 

“Um, it’s her handwriting so who else did?” 

_Her soulmate._

Waverly doesn’t know what to do. She just stares. She just stares, not sure what to do, what to say. 

“Well, hey. Look. There’s one way to know,” And Wynonna is passing Waverly a phone. And Wynonna is giving her a phone. And Wynonna is pushing it in Waverly’s hands. “Call it,” 

“Call it?” 

“Call it,” Wynonna says. “It’s a phone, baby girl. It ain’t gonna bite you,” 

“I…” Waverly turns it on. “I know. I…” She punches it in. And she listens to it ring. She listens to it ring. And she can’t breathe. She can’t breathe. 

And there’s a click. 

“Hello?” Waverly says. “Who is this?” 

“You called me. I think that’s supposed to be my line,” the familiar voice laughs on the other line. 

“Is this…” 

“It’s your soulmate, Waverly,” 

“Nic…Nicole?” 

“Yeah,” 

Waverly’s eyes fill with tears. “Oh my God…” 

“So, Waverly Earp, you want to go get that coffee you owe me?” 

“Yes. Yes, please,” 

And when Waverly looks down, there’s a unicorn on her wrist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I get the chance to write some fluff 
> 
> HMU at gayywords. I’m looking for prompts!


	15. TLOU Fangirl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Nicole is being a gay nerd and is freaking out over the new last of us 2 trailer when she finds out ellie (the character in the game) is gay”

When Nicole found out, it was the only thing Nicole could talk about. 

She had been playing The Last of Us religiously, sitting on the couch while Waverly drank tea and read and Calamity Jane sat, perched, with curious eyes on the screen and Wynonna would drunkenly stumble in and shout out “What the fuck? Shoot them! Shoot ‘im, Haught,”

“No! I have to be stealthy!” Nicole yelps, because Waverly might be the planner but Nicole was definitely after her title when it came to video games. 

“No you shoot them!”

And then Wynonna would lunge for the remote and the two would be squabbling for so long Waverly wished a fungus mutation would just rip through Purgatory and put her out of her misery. 

But it only got worse when Nicole played the DLC. Waverly peeled up a few times. She didn’t see Joel. She saw Ellie and she initially got confused, but whenever Nicole would play, she would watch, curiously. 

And then Ellie kissed her friend. And her friend kissed her back. And Nicole was a mess. 

For someone who teased Waverly when she started crying during Coco, Nicole was a wreck. “I knew it! I knew it! I was getting a lesbian vibe and - I knew it!” And Nicole was crying. And at first, it was funny. 

“You’re so emotional, baby,” Waverly teased her, but she hesitated because Nicole was _crying_. “Baby, wait. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Happy tears. I’m fine,” And Nicole is wiping her tears away and Waverly wants to protest because this is what Nicole does. She says it’s fine when it’s so not. 

“Nicole. What’s going on?”

“I... It’s stupid,”

“I cry during every Disney movie,” Waverly says with certainty. “I will not judge you,” And when Nicole sends her a disbelieving look, Waverly let’s out a loud gasp, “I’m your girlfriend! I want to know!”

“Okay... It’s just that... when I was kid, there were always characters that I just... I got a gay vibe. And I related too and shows would hint at... I never got representation like this. And I just look at this and Ellie and I just think...” And there are tears in Nicole’s eyes again and Waverly is melting. “I just think about all the fourteen years who are playing a fun game and get to see a strong female be gay and it be totally okay. And I just... God, I wish I had that. You know? Is that selfish?”

“No! God, no!” Waverly says, wrapping her arms around Nicole. “And that was so not stupid. Very, very the opposite of stupid,”

“Okay,” And Nicole laughs a little out of relief. “Okay. Thank you,”

“I’m here for you always, baby. Even if there’s a zombie infestation and we’re the only two survivors,”

Nicole laughs, genuinely. A big smile stretching across her tear stained face. 

“Don’t say that, baby. In a town like Purgatory, that’s like another Tuesday for us,”

And Waverly turn to laugh. But she turns her head to the TV. “Well, come on! I wanna see what happens now!”

“Okay. Okay!” So Nicole continues the game, continues the game with her wonderful girlfriend beside her. 

It really does get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I love the game “The Last of Us” really reccomend cause it’s a fun time


	16. Post 3x02 Fix It Fic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “where Nicole sacrfices herself instead but it turns out later, something saved her cuz she's supposed to help the Earps type shit? Like some angst before everyone's okay and happy...”

“Wynonna, you gotta let me go!”

Nine years. She’s done this nine years and her whole world comes tumbling and is in Wynonna Earp’s hands. 

“NO!” Wynonna shouts. Because she can’t lose another. She can’t lose another. 

But Nicole is stubborn, is bull-headed.

Nicole is the survivor. So she takes out her pocket knife.

“Then, I’ll make the choice for you!”

“Haught, don’t you fucking - “

The rope breaks easy and she falls and she falls. She thinks of unicorns and bonus blankets all the way down. And then her back crashes down on a ledge and her head hits and the world goes black. 

—-

She wakes up in an ER. Bright lights. Beeping noises. Typical. And when she blinks awake, the white light mainly obscuring her vision, she sees him.

She mistakes him for an angel. And he smiles, warm and full of relief before his face returns to neutral and Nicole sighs. He’s standing there, tall, dark, and handsome. Face stoic. Eyes full of emotion. 

“Where am - “

“Purgatory Hospital,” he says, amusement in his eyes. “You wake up enough times here, Haught, you should recognize it by now,”

Nicole nods but suddenly the events start to flicker, start to rush back, events of screaming, events of gunshots, of Wynonna... “Are you okay? Where are - “

“I’m fine, Haught,” he says with a shrug. “And our girls are good too,” 

“Our girls,” Nicole repeats back. It sounds nice on her lips. 

“I’ll go get them,”

“Hey, wait - “ Nicole goes to grab for his hand. And she knows it’s unprofessional, and she knows they’re not that close, but she can’t help herself. 

He stills. He stills as Nicole’s hands wrap around his arm. He looks down then up and his face relaxes. “You’re going to be okay, Haught. We’re all going to be okay. Alright?”

“Alright,” 

“We all made it. We’re all safe. No one’s gonna hurt you. Not when I’m here. Okay? I got your back, Haught,”

And Dolls breaks from her grip and he gives her one last smile before he steps out and Nicole’s vision fades to black once more.


	17. Bonus for Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt Bonus: “imagine after that, Waverly and Wynonna practically tackle Nicole where Nicole is just happy her Earp girls are safe. Then they smack her for that idiotic move and baby her when she gets out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bonus of fluff to my previous chapter. An extra scene, if you will. Because we deserve some freaking fluff god damn it.

“Wynonna! She just fell of a cliff!” Waverly screams, grabbing her sister’s hands but Wynonna is a storm of fury. Hands flying everywhere smacking at Nicole’s skin. 

“You - “ Slap. “ - Fucking - “ Slap. “ - Dumbass!” 

“WYNONNA!”

“It’s okay,” Nicole says, lowering her hands from the protective stance they had taken. Earps are just bundles of chaos, of fiery emotions, and hitting. “It’s okay. I deserve it. I was - “

Wynonna rushes forward, burying her face in Nicole’s shoulder. And Nicole wants to make a joke but this moment is just too precious. She stays still for a moment. And Waverly runs up and hugs Nicole. And then Doc. And everyone turns expectantly to Dolls. 

He stands there, stiff and awkward. Like a kid who showed up to a stranger’s birthday party, but his family all raises an arm and Dolls stumbles forward and wraps his arms around them all. 

Family.

Family.

You live for it. You die for it. And you make dumbass decisions for it.

But in the end, you wouldn’t trade them for nothing in the world. 

Family.

Dolls looks over at Nicole. His arms are around everyone and her included, but he looks at her in the middle of this group hug and he doesn’t stop even when they part.

“You were willing to die for me,” he says, voice soft.

“Always. I’d die for any of you,” Nicole says on instinct but she sees the look in his eyes and clears her throat. “But Dolls, I... You’re a goddamn hero. I would do anything for you. You’ve taught me so much,”

Dolls nods, quiet for a moment as he think it over. 

“Thank you, Haught. Thank you,”

They’re all quiet for a moment, enjoying the ambience when the ear pieces crackle loudly. 

“GUYS! GUYS!” Jeremy’s high voice squeaks through. “WHAT DID I MISS? DID I MISS A GROUP HUG? OH GOD! YOU TOTALLY DID, DIDN’T YOU?” 

Dolls laughs, hanging his head as he presses on the piece. “We’re coming home, Jeremy. We’re coming home,”


	18. Post 3x02 Hurt/Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Can you write Waverly and Nicole having a talk or something after what happened”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could only write a little of this, because I’m not in the headspace right now to write or handle Dolls’s death. I loved Dolls. He was a favorite of mine beside Wynonna and Nicole. I had so many dreams for him and I feel....sad and dissapointed. A cocktail of bad vibes. But writing is helping. So expect some fluff. How are you guys handling it? What are your thoughts? Is there a prompt I can write that will help you out? Let me know. Love y’all. Stay strong. ❤️

Nicole is still shaking. But she presses on his chest. “Come on, Dolls,” she grunts. “Come on,”

“Nicole - “ Its Waverly’s voice soft and seeet. And it Waverly’s hands that find her shoulders that pull her away. 

“I need to do my job!”

“Nicole, he’s gone!”

“No, he’s - “ Nicole shakes her head. There’s been too many memories of blood, of carnage. Too many losses lives in Purgatory but she couldn’t lose this one. She couldn’t. 

“Nicole - “ Waverly starts again but Nicole whips around. 

“It should have been me! Wynonna should have let me go and Dolls would have - “ But she chokes on her words as Waverly lunges forward, wrapping her up in the tightest of hugs. Hot tears rolling down Nicole’s back. 

“It should have been me,”


	19. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Nicole having nightmares and Waverly trying to comfort her? It was briefly mentioned in 3x03 and I thought it'd make a good little story.“

Nicole wakes up screaming. 

Nicole wakes up, her throat raw, her fingers twisting at the covers. 

Nicole wakes up screaming. 

But she feels hands, someone grabbing her, holding her, and she might not be able to breathe but someone’s chest is pressed against her back.

“You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re safe,” Waverly whispers. “You’re okay,” 

And Nicole wakes up screaming, but there are hands on hers, strong and there, and there is comforting words, filling her head.

And Nicole wakes up screaming but she’s safe. She’s safe. 

—-

Waverly holds Nicole as they try to fall asleep. Waverly holds Nicole and runs fingers through her red hair. Waverly holds Nicole and Nicole’s breathing has stabilized and her eyes aren’t filled with tears and she isn’t screaming. 

“Did you... Did you dream of the...” Waverly cringes. She knows the answer, but she needs to know. 

“Yeah, I was... I was back and I was running and...” Nicole shakes her head. And Waverly can hear the tears in her voice. “Sorry. Sorry,” 

“Stop. Stop. Stop shutting down your feelings,” Waverly says sternly. “You’re allowed to be vulnerable,”

“But I’m your rock and - “

“And I’m yours. Okay? So don’t shut your feelings down, baby, because I’m here. I’m here for you,”

“Okay...”

“Okay,”

Nicole tightens her grip on Waverly, pressing her face deeper in Waverly’s collar bone. “I’m scared, Waves. I’m so scared,”

“It’s going to be okay,” Waverly says, holding her girlfriend right. “It’s all going to be okay. I promise,”


	20. Parenting is Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Waves and Nicole have a teenger that goes on the first date. Nicole is overbearing and protective one while Waverly is the easy going on. Would be fun if you could incorporate Wynonna as siding with Nicole this time"

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When Nicole was reading the books, when Nicole was in the parenting classes, when Nicole was running around, she pictured things. She pictured training wheels and playing basketball and impromptu karaoke sessions.

But she didn’t picture the teen years. She didn’t picture the stress and the waiting and the yelling and snipping.

And suddenly the image she had created in her head, her “cool” mom status, it was gone. It was never there, if you asked Waverly. But it was gone. It was gone, because the teen years rolled in and suddenly their son, William – red hair and impish smile and charm of a Haught and a curious streak of an Earp – was seventeen. 

William was a good kid. A really good kid. He was a straight A-student. He tutored younger kids. He helped Nedley cross the street as he grew older and wearier. 

But William was an Earp. And William had Alice.

Alice – blue eyes, dark hair – was an Earp through and through. And ever since they met, the two have been getting in trouble. 

And it’s driving Nicole a little crazy.

She could handle it when they were kids. When they would run around and at worst steal a BBD case file or try to get their hands on Peacemaker. But now? Now, William was caught staking a vampire in his high school. Now, Alice and William got in a fight with Champ Hardy’s boys just two weeks ago. Now, William was hiding books under his bed. 

Books that were in Latin. 

Books that Nicole knew were about demons.

“I can’t believe you taught William Latin,” Nicole grumbles one evening. “It makes it so much harder to keep up with him,”

Waverly looks over her shoulder. Age has done her well. And she quirks a brow as her warm eyes rest on Nicole’s frown. “What do you mean?”

“I mean William has Latin books and I can’t even tell what he’s reading and – “

“Are you snooping through our kids stuff?”

“What? No! I was just… Well, see, I was putting his laundry away and then I tripped and then I saw the books… And – Okay. Yeah. I was snooping. But only because William’s been more secretive lately!”

“He’s a kid,” Waverly rolls her eyes.

“He’s an Earp,” Nicole reminds her wife. “Trouble runs in his blood,”

“Nicole!”

“What? It’s true,”

“Still…” Waverly sits across from her wife with a soft sigh. “You can’t be snooping through his things. No wonder he’s been secretive. He must be having a hard time breathing with you looking over his shoulder so intently,”

“I’m protecting him,”

Waverly shakes her head. “You’re doing that thing,”

“What thing?” Nicole frowns. 

“That thing! That thing where you want to do the right thing so bad and protect people so bad, but you just end up hurting people! You’re doing it,”

Nicole’s mind goes back to when they first started dating – the day she hid the paperwork, the day Waverly kissed Rosita, the day of that nasty text. Nicole heaves a sigh and nods. Waverly knows best. She had put up with her for this long. She’s a Nicole-expert at this point so Nicole drops the subject.

But still, Nicole is stressed.

Because, William and Alice are curious about a world that Nicole wants to keep them from.

Because, William and Alice could get hurt.

She remembered when she got the call that William had staked a vampire in the middle of homecoming. What a vampire was doing at Purgatory High was beyond Nicole, but it was certainly frightening. And then, she remembered seeing William, sitting on the curb, with his ginger curls hanging downward and his eyes filled with tears.

“I’m so, so, so sorry!” he said, running up to Nicole’s cruiser. “Alice invited this cool guy she found online, and he turned out to be a vampire and I just – God, I’m so sorry,”

“No. It’s okay,” Nicole shook her head. “You did the right thing. You protected your family,”

But then, Nicole found vampire research in William’s room when she went in to make his bed and suddenly the fear was creeping up and consuming her. 

And she knew she was being a tad overbearing. But she lived in a world of demons and monsters and Earps. How could she not ask her son to text her every hour with updates? How could she not track her son’s IPhone location and check it every half hour? It was Purgatory for God’s sake. 

But Waverly? Waverly was the “cool” mom that Nicole wanted to be. When William came home late, bags under his eyes, and the scent of beer clinging to his jean jacket, Waverly just gave him a hug and sent him to bed. When William called and said he was going to a party with Alice, Waverly just asked for him to be safe and to always have a designated driver and to text them every so often. When William didn’t respond to their messages for a whole evening, Waverly was fine.

Waverly was fine. Waverly was cool. Waverly kept saying things like “It’s good that he’s curious about this world,” and “He’s being young and having fun”. And maybe it was because Waverly did worse things when she was young with Chrissy and Stephanie. Or maybe it was because Waverly saw Wynonna do the worst things when she was young. Maybe because this was typical Purgatory behavior. Tailgate parties and monster hunting and hiking at night. But Nicole’s childhood wasn’t like that. 

It was strict schedules and hourly check-ins and – 

Holy shit. 

Nicole was becoming her parents.

God, she wasn’t mentally ready to unpack that baggage.

“Mom,”

Nicole jumps at the sound of her son’s voice. It’s late. Really late. And she been up thinking, chewing on her pen and thinking, thinking, thinking.

“You okay?” William asks. He’s got her height and her smile, but his eyes… They’re full of such wonderful ideas and curiosity and that big Waverly brain. 

“Fine. Fine,” Nicole shakes her head. “Just thinking,”

“Okay. Well, I’m going to take the car – “

“Where are you going? What time – “

“Slow down!” William raises his hands in surrender with an eye roll he doesn’t even cancel. “I’m going to the homestead. Alice and I are going to a friend’s – “

“Who’s the friend? What – “

“It’s not an interrogation,” Waverly’s voice cuts in. Nicole didn’t even know her wife was behind her. But suddenly she’s very grateful for Waverly because her wife was excellent at saving Nicole before she dug herself too deep in a hole. William who breaths a sigh of relief at the sight of his other mother also looks pretty darn grateful too.

Which feels like a punch in the gut to Nicole.

“Go. Call us when you’re there and let us know what time you’re going home,” Waverly pipes up. 

“Thanks, mom,” William grins. He grabs the keys and he’s out. And Nicole is rigid. 

“You need to go easier on him, baby,” Waverly says. Her hands are on Nicole’s shoulders, massaging it. “He’s a good kid,”

“I know. I know he’s a good kid. I know Alice is a good kid! I know! I know, but I want to protect him,” Nicole says. “And I’ve seen such horrible things and… And we’ve been through so much,” Nicole buries her face in her hands. 

“Baby, nothing is going to happen to William. He’s just having some fun with his cousin,” Waverly says. She shakes Nicole a little. “Now, I’m going to bed. Are you coming with?”

“In a bit… In a bit,” Because, she can’t help but think, think about the way that things could go wrong, thinking about all the ways things could go wrong.

Because William has demon research in Latin in his room.

Because William had a vampire at his homecoming.

Because William is interested in this world, in the Earp world, but Nicole wants him far from it.

Because this world will eat William and eat everything Nicole loves.

Because Nicole can’t handle that reality.

\---

Nicole’s finally fallen asleep, finally, when a phone call comes in.

“…Hello?” her voice cracks painfully. She rubs at her eyes. 

“Haught?” It’s Dolls. His voice loud. “I have William and Alice and their friends – “

“What happened?” Her voice is sharp and Waverly jumps up. Waverly blinks at the light. 

“Baby, what’s going on – “

“I was out with Jeremy hunting our newest target,” Dolls continues, “And I found William and Alice with some friends,”

“Are they okay?” Nicole yelps. “Are they – “

“They were on a stakeout. They’re fine, and – “

“I’ll be right there,” Nicole leaps out of bed and is running out of the house with Waverly on her heels.

\---  
Wynonna is pacing around the Purgatory Police Station, nearly burning a hole in the floor, but Nicole can’t judge her. She’s sitting there, leg bouncing, and Waverly? Waverly is the picture perfect definition of calm.

“How are you not freaking out?” Nicole yelps out finally, because she’s had enough.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so _calm_ ,”

“Sorry, it’s just that… Wynonna and I did this stuff when we were kids,” Waverly says. “And besides, Dolls found them. We trust Dolls and we love Dolls,”

“Yeah, but this isn’t you and Wynonna. This is our son and his cousin. And they were on a double date! And monster hunting! How does that not scare you?”

“They weren’t hurt. They were just trying to be like us. We’ll talk to them, let them know that this isn’t acceptable, but aren’t you guys just the tiniest bit impressed that without us, without our help, they were able to hunt down the location of the siren and set up a stake-out?” Waverly says.

“No, Waverly! No, I’m-I’m freaking out!” Nicole jumps up. Because she can’t handle this anymore. She can’t keep saying “it’s fine”. She can’t continue being the high-strung mom. She can’t do this anymore. “He could have gotten hurt!”

“But he didn’t,” Waverly reminds her. “You’re being too hard on him, Nic,”

“Too hard? I’m not being hard enough if he thinks this is okay! He didn’t tell us that he was going on a date! He didn’t tell us he was going monster hunting! He didn’t tell us anything! He could have gotten hurt! Or his date hurt! Or his cousin hurt! Or – “

“HEY!” It’s Wynonna’s voice, loud and clear and stopping the two squabbling wives in an instant. “I know, Waves, you want William to have a more relaxed childhood than your own. I know Aunt Gus was tough on you. I know the world was tough on you – everyone out here was trying to protect you from the very thing you wanted so badly. I get it. Okay? I get it, but our kids shouldn’t be doing this shit. They should be doing kids things. The reason why we did this shit when we were kids was because there was no adults that gave a shit about us. But we’re here. We’re the adults. And our kids aren’t monster hunting until they’re of age. They’re going double date at a diner like normal kids. And they’re going to _tell us_ about said dates before they go off into the world!”

Nicole is silent for a long moment. “Did… Did you just _side_ with me?”

“What?” Wynonna hesitates. 

“You just… You just _agreed_ with me!”

“Well, you’re… You’re not a total dumbass,” Wynona crosses her arms. 

Waverly’s eyes go to Nicole and soften immediately. “Hm, finally picked a smart one,” she says to herself before she nods. “Okay. You’re right. You’re right. I’m being…too chill, but you’re being too overbearing,”

“So, we’ll compromise,” Nicole says. “Okay?”

“Okay,”

“United front,” Nicole grins. “That’s what the books say,”

Waverly nods, but Nicole quickly adds, “Of course, that starts after we ground him,”

“Oh, they are so grounded,” Wynonna says, pacing again. “Alice is gonna lose her motorcycle for three weeks!”

“William is going to lose his video game privileges,” Nicole says. “A-And it’s just going to basketball practice and studying from now on,” 

Waverly places a hand on Nicole’s bouncing leg, and it finally stills. “He’s a good kid, Nic. A really good kid. He reminds me of you,”

Nicole smiles. She can’t help it. “He reminds me of you, Waves. And… I do think it’s pretty good that he was able to find the siren without our help. He’ll make a great police officer one day,”

“Or a researcher,”

“And the stakeout idea? That was totally his. Alice would have just run right in the cave – “

“Hey!” Wynonna calls out, but she doesn’t even try to deny it.

“Maybe…” Nicole wrestles with the idea for a moment because every protective urge in her body is screaming otherwise. “Maybe we should…hypothetically…let them work a little with us. Just research. That way we can keep an eye on them and they can keep…being a part of this world,”

Wynonna stills for a moment. “What? Like have our kids be little BBD interns,”

“Yeah, highly supervised interns,” 

Wynonna thinks it over for a moment. “It would be nice to teach Alice some shit about monster hunting before she goes off without training and gets herself killed…”

“And William is a pretty good researcher. I’ve read his notes. He’s incredibly thorough,” Waverly adds. 

“Alright. Alright. I’m in, but we’ll have to have eyes on them the whole time. And they’re still grounded,” Wynonna says with a nod. 

“Good idea, baby,” Waverly says. Her hand squeezes Nicole’s knee, and Nicole’s smile returns even though her stomach is doing flips. “A good and very _cool_ idea,”

And Nicole takes a deep breath.

Baby steps. 

“So… Our son went on a double date with his cousin and thought it would be a good idea to go…monster hunting,” Nicole says, processing it all. “Our son….went on a date. Who was it with?”

“I didn’t even know he was seeing anybody,” Waverly admits, sinking into her seat. 

“Oh, it’s Jessica Hardy,”

“I’m sorry. What?” Nicole chokes. 

“Jessica Hardy,” Wynonna says matter-of-factly. “Alice told me all the tea. Am I using that correctly? _Tea_?”

“You’ve been hanging with the kids too much,” Waverly rolls her eyes. 

“So my son… He went on a date with the daughter of… Champ… Champ Hardy… My wife’s ex-boyfriend,” Nicole feels like her brain is going to explode. “I… I don’t know how to feel about this. I mean, the monster thing I understand, but…. This. I don’t know how to handle this,”

“Waverly, do something. Haught is having a stroke,”

“How do I even…” Nicole feels like she’s losing oxygen at an alarming rate. “They need to let us know when they’re going on dates. And William has to take his little sister,”

“You are so not making Natalie play third wheel,” Waverly interjects. 

“Okay. Fine. Then, I will discretely be watching from afar – “

“We need to trust him,”

“He just lied to us!”

“Well, after his grounding, we’ll get a groove. It’s okay. We’ll figure it out,” Waverly places a hand on her wife’s shoulder. “We’re going to figure it out,”

United front. United front. 

Because at the end of the day, even though Nicole might be a little overbearing and Waverly might be a little too chill, they both want the best for William. And together, they’ll give it to him. Together, they’ll make it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this prompt. I also really like the idea that there would be like a Next Generation of the Earp Gang - Alice, William, and their friends all hunting monsters like their parents. So I just had to incorporate that concept, because I loved it so much. Hope y'all like it.
> 
> I need prompts so come on up to gayywords on tumblr if you have one. love all of you.


	21. Survivor’s Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “If you’re up for it, I have a prompt for Waverly’s reaction to hearing Nicole tell Wynonna to cut the rope“ + “Nicole is dealing with survivors guilt”

Nicole’s been different since the events of the cliff. 

That wasn’t fair. They all had been different. They all were dealing with the bad shit, with the memories, with seeing Dolls, tall and proud and in control, laying on the floor, small and limp. 

Nicole’s been different.

Wynonna’s different. She drinks more. She’s more into work than ever. 

Doc’s different. He leaves Wynonna alone. He’s more somber.

Jeremy’s different. He doesn’t laugh as much as he used to. 

Waverly’s different. She knew she was. She had a hard time sleeping, seeing Dolls’ body in her head, the memories of it all. 

But Nicole’s been different too. 

Nicole’s been different, but it’s a kind of different that isn’t understandable. It’s alarming. 

Alarming because Nicole has become withdrawn. 

Her girlfriend admitted she was the survivor of a massacre and came forward and spoke up, and now she was icing Waverly out. Her girlfriend, who would text Waverly throughout the day, was now responding with one word answers hours after Waverly would send a text. 

And it’s weird.

And it’s scary.

And it’s different.

Waverly knows Nicole is grieving, is going through a hard time, but Godamnit, Waverly missed her girlfriend. She missed her. 

So she’s laying in bed. It’s been a week and she hasn’t seen Nicole at all. She’s been “working”. And she hasn’t heard from Nicole at all. No texts. No calls. And Waverly’s supposed to be sleeping. Big case in the morning. More scary demons to kill. 

But Waverly can’t stop thinking about Nicole.

Nicole came forward and revealed a very dark and scary part of herself. Nicole was vulnerable. Waverly was the rock and now.... Nicole was gone. Nicole was avoiding her. 

Waverly grabs her phone and takes off. And she moves like she’s on autopilot. And she doesn’t care that she’s still in her pajamas. And she doesn’t care that she has some serious bedhead right now. She doesn’t care.

She’s cares about Nicole.

Because Nicole’s been weird and different and withdrawn. And Waverly has had enough. 

She bangs her tiny fist against the door. “NICOLE!” She shouts. “NICOLE!”

And it takes a solid few minutes before Waverly, almost ready to give up, hears noises from just behind the door and suddenly the door is opening.

Nicole, red hair all over, black boy briefs and a blue tank top is standing in front of her. And she looks so cute and sleepy. And so hot in those briefs. And Nicole covers her eyes with her hand. “What are you doing here, Waves? It’s three in the - “

“You asked Wynonna to cut the rope,”

“What?” Nicole’s eyes widened. “Baby, I - “

“I heard you, you know. I heard you say that. I heard you tell Wynonna to cut the rope, but she didn’t. She didn’t,”

“And Dolls got killed,” Nicole adds under her breath. 

“Nicole! She was saving you!”

“She made the wrong choice!” Nicole snaps. She closes her eyes tight and takes a deep breath. “I don’t have time for this. I have a shift in a few ho - “

“No! No!” And Waverly grabs Nicole’s arm. “Stop that! Stop avoiding me! Stop pretending things are fine!”

“They are fine!”

“No! They’re not! You’re not fine!”

“I am!”

“Then why would you say she made the wrong choice? Huh? Why would you say that if you’re fine?”

Nicole is tense. She looks ready for battle. She looks like an animal on the defensive. And she takes a deep breath, a shaky breath. 

“Because I’m not important,” Nicole says as flatly as possible. “And I’m fine with that,”

“Don’t you dare say that!”

“I’m not! Dolls was more important! He was BBD! He was a deputy Marshall! I’m a sheriff’s rookie deputy with barely three years on the force under my belt. I’m not going to break this curse, Waves. I don’t have a magic gun and I’m not smart like you, but Dolls... He was stronger and faster and part lizard and he was more important than me!”

“Nicole!” Waverly snaps. “Don’t you dare say - “

“What? The truth? Don’t tell me that. You know I’m right,” And she knows Nicole is just lashing out because she’s hurt, because she’s not fine, but Waverly wants to scream in frustration.

But instead, she takes a deep breath, pushes her anger deep, deep, down and looks into Nicole’s sad brown eyes, still guarded by a layer of anger. 

“You couldn’t have done anything to save him,”

“I could - “

“You couldn’t have done anything to save him. His drugs were unstable. He grabbed Bulshar’s guy. And he used his powers. You couldn’t have done anything,”

“I - “

“You couldn’t have done anything,”

“Stop saying that,”

“It’s the truth,”

“No. No. It’s not,” Nicole says through gritted teeth and tears in her eyes. “It’s not,”

And Waverly loosens her grip on Nicole’s arm, and she rushes forward and she traps Nicole in the tightest of hugs.

“You couldn’t have done anything, baby,”

And Nicole grabs Waverly and hugs her tight. And Nicole let’s Waverly be the rock. And Nicole falls apart in Waverly’s arm.


	22. Love Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “If you do, can you write Waverly telling everyone how she met Nicole”

They were sitting around and drinking. Drinking and sitting was kind of the BBD gang’s go-to hang out idea.

It’s late, and they’re going to close down Shorty’s and drink it dry. And Waverly has Nicole’s arm draped over her. And Dolls and Wynonna and Doc are all squished together in the booth. And Jeremy is watching “Wayhaught” - as he nicknamed them - with big eyes. 

“I can’t believe you guys found each other,” Jeremy says. “And Purgatory of all places,”

“Yeah. I’m pretty lucky,” Nicole says with a loose smile. 

“And Purgatory! With the limited dating options and lack of gay bars! It’s like fate,” Jeremy grins, all doe-eyed and tipsy. 

“Horseshit,” Wynonna scoffs. “I don’t believe that for a second. How’d you two meet? Huh? Tinder? It was Tinder, wasn’t it?”

“It was not!” Waverly insists. “It was romantic and wonderful and right out of one of my movies!”

“No way. You’re awkward and Haught’s a useless lesbian. No way did you guys meet in a way that wasn’t clumsy and goofy,”

Jeremy’s eyes light up. “I bet they bumped into each other in town and Waverly dropped all her textbooks and Nicole helped her and when their hands touched, they looked into each other’s eyes and - “ 

“No way. If these two clowns were in that situation, Waverly would drop her books and scream at Haught for bumping into her. And Haught would apologize and be all nice and stuff,”

Neither Nicole or Waverly said anything in response to Wynonna’s comment, because honestly she was right. But they didn’t want to admit it. 

“Look, ‘Nonna. It’s not like that at all. I was very smooth! And not at all awkward!” Waverly insists. “It was a meet-cute!”

“If you would indulge our curiosity, how exactly did you and Purgatory’s Finest meet?” Doc asks with a smile hidden under that mustache.

Waverly opens her mouth for a moment and she looks at Nicole and Nicole’s grinning, enjoying the flustered look on her girlfriend’s face. 

“Okay. Uh. Well,” Waverly pauses for a moment, trying to figure it out. “Okay. So I was working at Shorty’s and Nicole heard stories about me and that I was a really big deal in town - “

“Okay. Easy there. Nedley just said if anyone was gonna show me what Purgatory was about, it would be you. So I decided to pop in,” Nicole interjects. 

“Right. Right,” Waverly nods. “So, Nicole is about to walk in. And then the tap breaks,”

Plot twist!” Jeremy gasps theatrically. He ignores the deathly glares he gets from Wynonna, Doc, and Dolls. 

“So my shirt is covered in beer. And Nicole walks in and says ‘I didn’t know Shorty’s had wet t-shirt competitions’,”

“Haught!” Wynonna shouts.

“It was a joke! Her shirt was soaked!” Nicole insists, face as red as her hair. 

“Guys! Anyways, so, Nicole walks in and she orders a cappuccino - “

“You ordered a coffee at a bar?” Dolls frowns.

Nicole shrinks under his gaze. “I panicked!” she mumbles under her breath. 

Waverly keeps going. “So, Nicole introduce herself. I introduce myself and then I needed to take shirt off,”

“Why?” Wynonna frowns.

“Because my shirt was soaked,” Waverly explains like it makes total sense but by everyone’s expression at the table, it didn’t seem this was a reasonable conclusion. 

“So wait. A random girl walks in. Your shirt is soaked. And you decide to take your shirt off...right there in the bar?” Wynonna has never looked so confused. “Did you have a change of shirt nearby?” she asks.

“No. I had a shirt upstairs in my old apartment,” Waverly continues.

“So you - Let me get this straight. Wait, poor choice of words. Okay. You take your shirt off without a shirt even nearby. And what was your plan? To run up to your apartment and get a change of clothes? Why didn’t you just run up? Why change in the bar?”

“Well, I don’t know! I panicked!” Waverly squeaks. 

“You’re first reaction when you gay-panicked was to take off your shirt?” 

“Can we stop getting hung up on the specifics?” Waverly says suddenly. She can’t help but feel her face getting hotter and hotter and Nicole is smiling even wider and wider. And everyone at the table looking at her stranger and stranger. “So,” She clears her throat. “I try to take my shirt off. Nicole turns around,”

“Because I’m a gentleman,” Nicole nods.

“And as I try to remove my shirt, it gets caught in my hair. So I ask for some help,”

“Oh my God,” Wynonna face-palms quite hard. 

“So Nicole comes behind the bar and helps me take off my shirt,

“Were you being a gentleman then?” Wynonna snorts.

Nicole doesn’t answer. She just downs her drink quickly. 

“And then, after Nicole helped me, she gave me her card and said to call sometime and that we could get that coffee she owed me,” Waverly says. “See? See you guys! It’s fate! It’s destiny! It’s a meet-cute of the romcoms! It’s - “

“The beginning of a porn,” Wynonna cuts in. “I’m surprised you didn’t just go down on her right there, Haught,”

Nicole chokes on her drink. 

“It’s not the beginning of a porn!” Waverly gasps, insulted. 

“It literally is! I’m pretty sure I watched one just yesterday that had the very same plot!”

Doc is only one who chuckles at that, but stops when everyone is looking him oddly. 

“What? Wynonna happened to say a funny joke,” And when no one responded, he continues with big eyes. “It’s funny, because the opposite sex does not partake in pornography,”

“Uh, Doc. It’s 2018. Girls watch porn,” Dolls says, giving Doc a big slap on the back. 

Nicole can’t help but laugh at Doc’s lost expression. Sometimes the cowboy was so clueless. 

“Look, it’s a fairytale beginning! A meet-cute!” Waverly insist, ignoring Doc’s bug eyes and Dolls’ smug smile. 

“It’s a porn intro! You ripped your shirt off, flashed Bonnie and Clyde - “

“You named my boobs?” Waverly gawks. 

“And then Haught was drooling for you. Face it, baby girl. I was right. It wasn’t a meet-cute. It was a meet-awkward because you two are anxious, gay, oddballs, not players,” Wynonna says, crossing her arms tightly. 

“How - “ But Waverly doesn’t get a chance to finish that thought, because Nicole’s grip on her tightens. 

“Baby,” Nicole says. “It doesn’t matter if we met in a porn-y way. What matters is that this - “ She motions to the two of them. “Is a fairytale for me. It’s a love story. And I’m so happy to be in this love story with you,”

“Me too,” And Waverly leans forward and kisses Nicole and everything, all her frustration and anger, melts away. 

“God, please don’t create a porno right now!” Wynonna gags. 

And Waverly laughs. And she looks at Nicole and kisses her again. Because nothing, not even her sister’s antics, could ruin this love story, because it was theirs and theirs alone. And Waverly loved it.


	23. Sorry Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Omg can you write Waverlys reaction to all the balloons and stuff Nicole got for their “sorry party” at the end of the ep”

It’s late. And Waverly’s exhausted. She sits on her bed and she tries to think but a demon almost made her kill herself and for a moment she almost did. She lays in bed, too tired to move, broken after this day and - 

“Is it too late to have that sorry party now?”

Waverly perks up at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice and there are tears in her eyes and she doesn’t even know they are there until beads of water drip down her shirt. 

“I thought you broke up with me,” Waverly states. 

“That was the demon,” Nicole says. “That was the demon. It wasn’t me. I wouldn’t - “

“I know,” Waverly nods. “I know. I know. But... For a moment, I really did think - “

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Nicole rushes forward and gives Waverly a hug. 

And Waverly lets herself be held, lets the stress of the day melt away.

“So a sorry party, huh?” Waverly whispers into her shoulder. 

“Hm,” Nicole hums. “So,” She backs up, placing hands on Waverly’s shoulders. “I, Nicole Haught - “

“Very official,”

“ - apologize to Waverly Earp for letting a demon fuck with you,”

“That part wasn’t your fault - “

“I am sorry I said those hurtful things,”

“Yeah, that part was...” Waverly can’t even finish her thoughts.

“I’m sorry I let Jolene flirt with me and even flirted a little too,”

“Oh, hey. That. Well, I was just being jealous and cupcake-crazy. I don’t want you to think you can’t interact with other girls, but maybe don’t recreate our meet-cute or take off their shirts,”

“Of course,” Nicole says. “Besides,” She leans in to whisper. “Why would I want to when I have the most amazing baby in the whole world?” She kisses Waverly, soft and strong and Waverly melts.

“Oh!” Nicole perks up and dashes to the Hall.

“Well, that lasted long,” Waverly mumbles to herself, but then Nicole is running in with balloons, a teddy bear, and a car and the damn biggest smile on her face. 

“Nicole!” Waverly can’t stop laughing. 

“I thought it would make our sorry party more fun!”

“You’re ridiculous,” Waverly laughs. “Did you get hats? You know, sorry hats,”

“I thought that would be too much,”

“That? That you thought would be too much. You’re... You’re amazing,”

“And you’re extraordinary,” Nicole grins.

“I’m serious, baby,”

“I am too,”

“I don’t deserve you. You’re just so normal and sane and stable and...” She takes Nicole’s hands, placing the balloons and teddy bears aside. “I love you,” she says, looking right into Nicole’s eyes. 

“I love you too,”

“The demon wanted me to feel... worthless. She made me want to kill myself. And I just - You know what stopped me? My love for Wynonna, my love for you. Knowing you guys loved me no matter what stupid demon shit we get into,”

Nicole is speechless for a moment. And then, she encases Waverly in another tight hug, with her chin on Waverly’s head. And Waverly can’t help but smile, because when they are like this, she can’t help but think they’re like puzzle pieces finally fitting together. 

Waverly thinks she could spend forever in these arms. Because Jolene was gone. Answers were being revealed. And Nicole was here. Nicole was here and loved her and she loved Nicole. 

She holds Nicole, holding her as tight as she can. Because in these arms, everything was okay. 

Everything was going to be okay.


	24. Final Wishes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “where Waverly finds out about the promise Wynonna made to Nicole when she was in the hospital”

Nicole and Wynonna were in the middle of an argument when Wynonna let the cat out of the bag. 

It was a mistake. It really was, but one moment Wynonna was laughing. 

“Give me the truck,” Wynonna says.

“No,” Nicole frowns. 

“Come on! Let me borrow her for a little fun!”

“You’ll scratch her up!” Nicole insists. And Wynonna scoffs loudly. 

“You don’t trust me, Haught? You’d trust me to pull the plug on ya but to touch your precious truck is suddenly crossing the line?”

And then, there was no laughing, no silly back and forth argument, nothing. Because Wynonna looked full of regret the second the words left her mouth and Nicole is frozen and Waverly, sweet Waverly, is staring at the two, taken aback. 

“Pull the... Pull the plug? Nic, what’s she talking about?”

“It’s not a big deal,” Wynonna tries to say, but Waverly sticks out her hand and cuts her sister off. 

“What is she talking about, Nicole?” And Waverly is glaring at Nicole, is looking hurt and confused and scared. And Nicole doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t what to do, because she hates that she’s at the receiving end of such a scathing look. 

“Back when...The Widow bit me, I had a talk with Wynonna and...” Nicole nervously plays with her hands. “I didn’t want to be a burden so I asked Wynonna to - “

“Pull the plug,” Waverly says. She looks at her sister and then Wynonna. “You asked ‘Nonna to kill you - “

“It’s a bit more nuanced than that, baby,”

“And you didn’t tell me,” Waverly looks at Nicole. 

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal,”

“That’s a lie,” Waverly snaps. 

“Okay,” Nicole takes a deep breath, a shaky deep breath. “Look, I don’t ever want to be a burden. And I don’t wanna be hooked to machines,”

“And I respect that, but, Nic, you should have told me! What did you expect to happen when - God forbid - the day comes and Wynonna pulls the plug and I don’t ever have the memory of you communicating your final wishes to me!”

“Okay! Okay! I should have told you,” Nicole says. And she sits further back in the couch. “And you know I want a sky funeral, right?”

“Yes. As horrible and graphic as it is, I’ll be sure you get one,” Waverly says. 

“So...” Nicole plays with her hands. “So what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What do you want?”

“For my final wishes? Morbid much?”

“Sorry! You asked me first! And we live in Purgatory! The life span here is surprisingly and terrifyingly short,” Nicole squeaks but it takes her a moment to see that Waverly is just pulling her leg. 

“I don’t want to be hooked on machines either. Wait a respectable amount of time and then pull the plug,” Waverly nods. “And I want to bury on the homestead next to ‘Nonna,”

“Hell yeah,” Wynonna lifts her Jack Daniels bottle and takes a long sip. “Next to Dolls,”

Waverly nods. The mood somber. 

“Maybe...” Nicole swallows the lump in her throat. “Maybe after the vultures pick me apart, you can take my remains and, uh, put me on the homestead. With you guys,”

“Really?” Waverly asks, smiling. 

“Yeah. Yeah. Maybe plant a nice tree on top of me so I can fertilize the tree. But I want to be next to you,”

“You sure you want to spend an eternity with me and ‘Nonna,” Waverly laughs, but Nicole shakes her head. 

“Baby, you make that sound like a bad thing when it’s not. I’d be the luckiest girl in the world if I could get to spend eternity with you,”

Waverly grinning from ear to ear, washed in a wonderful glow. “I want to spend an eternity with you, Nicole,”

“Ah, gross. Are you guys always going to be like this?” Wynonna gags. “Cause I don’t think I can handle this shit for eternity,”

“Aw, you guys,” Waverly wraps an arm around Wynonna who lets out a grunt immediately and an arm around Nicole who melts at her touch and squeezes the two. “We’re going to be together forever!”

Wynonna looks at Nicole and Nicole looks at Wynonna as the group hug ensues. 

And even though, Nicole and Wynonna both groaned dramatically at that. There was a part of Nicole that couldn’t help but smile.

She finally had a family. A family that included a drunk who got on her nerves and constantly wanted to take her things. But family. 

And she wouldn’t want to give it up for the world. 

Eternity, she thought. An eternity with the Earps, an eternity of nights like this, didn’t seem so bad.


	25. Santa Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Can you write what happened with wayhaught in 3x06 after the shot ended with the dance"

They’re in their own little world. Just them. Just Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught. Just them in a bedroom with their giggles and their hearts beating in unison. Just Waverly dancing for Nicole, who’s fighting a fit of giggles, and Nicole staring at Waverly in awe. Because, god damn. God damn. She wants to marry this girl.

Waverly is a giggling mess. Waverly is feeling bashful. Her face is red and she keeps coming forward, pressing kisses to Nicole’s lips.

In the movies, she wouldn’t be bashful. She wouldn’t be. She’d dance. Nicole would fall in love, but this isn’t the movies.

No. There’s imperfection. There’s humanity. There’s just two people being silly and wonderful and Nicole thinks, deep down, that this moment truly is perfect with Waverly Earp dressed like that, looking at her like she’s brilliant, and Nicole is in love.

This is moment you keep to yourself. This is the moment you hold onto and you never let go. It’s just them in this moment. Just them. In their own little world. And Nicole could live here for years. She could grow old in this moment. She could die in this moment.

Because the love of her life is dancing for her. The love of her life looks amazing. The love of her life is smiling and giggling and has cheeks almost as red as Nicole’s hair. And the love of her life is just looking at her, looking into her eyes, seeing Nicole, only Nicole. Nicole. Waverly. Nicole and Waverly. Two souls existing in a beautiful harmony in a moment that is only theirs.

Nicole knows she’s going to marry Waverly Earp. She knows she’s going to marry Waverly Earp the way she knows she’s going to be a good sheriff, the way she knows Wynonna is going to be a hell of a mother, the way she knows that Purgatory is a shit show but it’s their shit show.

“Do you hate it?”

“No! Of course, not!”

She could never hate this moment. She could never hate Waverly. And she watches Waverly dance. And she laughs. And she enjoys the warmth of Waverly’s lips on hers. And Waverly’s hands roaming around her body. Waverly. Waverly. Waverly.

She could spend eternity in this moment.

Because it was just them. Just Waverly and Nicole. And nothing and no one could ever take this from them.

\---

Wynonna sits down stairs. Comfortable. Slightly buzzed. She thinks about Dolls, about Doc, about this new guy who she may or may not have just slept with a few moments ago in his fire truck… An interesting and uncomfortable new location that she could cross from her list.

She sits down stairs and closes her eyes and there’s singing going on upstairs. She’s lived with Waverly long enough to recognize her beautiful voice. It’s nice. Wynonna closes her eyes. And then she hears giggles. A lot of giggles. And then - 

“Fucking Hell. Again?” Wynonna slams her hands over her ears. Where was that damn Santa-styled headphones again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit me up at gayywords on tumblr.


	26. Waverly in Nicole's Uniform

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Waverly in Nicole’s uniform shirt and Stetson"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This includes some speculation for 3x07 after that promo that was released.

It all boils down to the people of Purgatory. They have to vote. And if they vote, and if they vote Haught, Nicole’s dream comes true, Sheriff Nedley’s training would have all been for something, it would do so much good. 

But Nicole is an outsider. Only a year into Purgatory and still she’s an outsider. But she smiles at everyone and says hello and tries her best. But her opponent is...Purgatory through and through. One of the old families. 

Needless to say, Nicole is pretty stressed out. But Waverly is there. Waverly is wearing a pin and a blazer and they’re trying to get the firehouse endorsement, and they’re working so hard. 

But there’s still a chance. 

A chance that Purgatory sides with the old families, with old Purgatory blood. 

A chance that all Nicole’s hard work is going to be for nothing. 

A chance that Nicole will just be a flat-foot rookie cop for the rest of her life. 

“Nicole,”

Nicole jumps at the sound of her name, lost in thought as she sits in the living room, leg bouncing and nerves buzzing in her chest. 

“Nicole, can you come upstairs for a moment?” Waverly calls out again.

“Alright! Coming!” And Nicole is on her feet, moving up the stairs, and Nicole is coming. 

“Baby, I was just thinking - Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to go visit with some old families and see if we can - “ Nicole’s voice gives up. Because speaking is difficult when your hot girlfriend is dressed like…. _that_. And Nicole can’t remember what she was saying. What was she saying?

And somehow, while looking like the most gorgeous woman on Earth, Waverly manages to look a little bashful. “Surprise,” she says, nervously. “I know you were stressed out so I decided to surprise you with something a little - “ She motions to herself. 

Because Waverly is standing in her room in Nicole’s dress shirt, black tie hanging loosely from her neck, buttons casually undone, a white Stetson atop her flowing brown hair, and a pair of lacy black underwear that have predetermined usage for only “special times” like anniversaries and...now. 

“This is stupid,” Waverly stammers suddenly. “Sorry. You hate it. I’m - “

“No!” Nicole says a little too fast. And she’s glad her mouth has finally started working because for a moment she thought all she’d be able to do was stare helplessly at her girlfriend. “No! I love it. It’s a… A very great, wonderful surprise,”

“Nicole,”

“Yes?”

“Sit,”

Nicole sits down immediately. She can practically hear Wynonna’s jokes about her being whipped rattling in her head. 

“Nicole,”

“Yes?”

“You’re going to be a brilliant Sheriff. You’re going to be smart,“ Waverly loosens the tie even more. “You’re going to caring and considerate,” She puts the tie over Nicole’s head. “You’re going to be smoking hot, sexy, and in control,” Waverly tightens the tie suddenly and nicole lets out a surprised gasp, unintentionally. 

“Oh. Sorry. Too tight?”

“It’s fine,”

“Okay. Just let me know when you want to stop,”

“Safe words, huh? So it’s that kind of night,”

Waverly laughs, but quickly tries to bring back the same mischievous and sultry facade she had been maintaining. “Stop making me laugh. This is supposed to be sexy,”

“Trust me. It’s plenty sexy,”

Waverly smiles but then she clears her throat. “Okay. Safe word unicorn?”

“Unicorn,” Nicole repeats. “Sounds good,” 

“Alright. Well, Sheriff Haught, I’m your loyal deputy,”

“Are you now?” Nicole smirks, quirking a brow. 

“Yes. And I’m going to do my service,” And Waverly saunters forward and grabs the black tie and pulls Nicole forward. “And I’m gonna rock your world,” And with an unexpected shove, Nicole is sent backwards onto the bed which she ungracefully flops onto. And she can’t help but laugh as her red hair sprays everywhere. 

She opens her eyes and Waverly is standing above her looking every bit as angelic as her DNA states, and she doesn’t know what she expects but Waverly is standing above her with the most beautiful smile. 

“What?” Nicole grins. 

“Nothing. It’s just… I missed your smile,”

“I’ve been that grumpy, huh?”

“More like...very worn out,”

Nicole hums in agreement, and Waverly sits down beside her, placing a hand on her thigh. 

“You’re going to get that job,”

“You don’t know that,”

“But I do! Purgatory loves you!”

“I’m an outsider,” Nicole sighs. 

“No. No, you’re not. Nicole Haught, you’re done being an outsider. You’re an insider. You’re inside everything,” Waverly says, but she stops after a beat. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make that sound dirty,”

Nicole smiles again. “I love you,”

“I love you too,” Waverly says and she seems relieved to say it. “Alright. Alright. Back to sexy times,”

“Sexy times,” Nicole repeats with a laugh. “I like that,”

“I thought you would,” Waverly says as she flips over and suddenly she’s stradling Nicole instead of just sitting beside her. And Nicole smile brightens. And Waverly straightens her back and starts undoing buttons. 

And Nicole thinks she might be in Heaven.


	27. Hangovers Are A Bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Could you maybe do a prompt with drunk Waverly and Nicole with Wynonna being sober and nursing their hangovers"

It had been a big night in their defense. 

Nicole had gotten the sheriff’s position and Wynonna, who planned her celebration party, kept pushing alcohol in front of them. And Waverly kept taking it, and Nicole, who’s competitive by nature, tried to keep up but she’s a lightweight in comparison to the Earps. 

So, that’s why she’s here.

Awkwardly strewn about the couch, dried drool on her face, her neck hurting, and feeling absolutely, terribly nauseous as her head screams in pain. 

Hangovers suck.

She blinks. It’s so hard to open her eyes and the world is so bright. And everything hurts. She just wants to lay here forever and ever and ever until her body atrophies and everything falls apart and - 

“Hey, you dead?”

Nicole doesn’t want to respond. Nicole wants to lay here and forget the world exists and just melt away into a little puddle of goo, but someone, with rough hands, shakes her, hard. And someone, with a loud voice, shouts out, “GET UP!” And the world is shaking. And the world is screaming. And Nicole is groaning. 

“Leave me alone, Earp,”

“And leave you to choke on your own vomit? I think the fuck not,” Wynonna shakes Nicole again. “Come again. Get up,”

“H...How are you even functioning?”

“I didn’t drink,”

And Nicole can’t tell whether it’s the suprise or the nausea, but she grabs the bucket that Wynonna was holding and throws up. 

It cannot be iterated enough how much hangovers suck.

“Easy there, Haughtshit,” Wynonan says, rubbing circles on her back. “Easy. You sit tight. I gotta get Dumbass Number Two,”

\---

Waverly Earp is not doing better than Nicole. She isn’t a vomiting, pale mess. But her head is throbbing awfully and she’s buried in blankets and blankets to avoid the sun. You would think being an Earp would keep her immune to this shit, but at the end of the day, Waverly was only a Gibson and an angel...and, man, it was too early in the day to have an identity crisis.

“Babygirl, Haught is looking like someone ran over her and threw her in the woods. How you doing?”

“Like someone who thought peppermint shots were a good idea when they weren’t,” she grumbles from under her pile.

“That bad, huh?”

Waverly doesn’t even grace that with a response. She just buries herself further, but she hear the floorboards creak and suddenly the blankets are being torn off her and thrown in every direction and Waverly cries out like a child.

“Wynonna!” she shouts even though her head despises the volume of her own voice.

“It’s for your own good! Come on! We gotta get up! Demons to hunt and people to save!”

“Fine,” Waverly lifts the last blanket, removing it as her shield, and hisses as the morning light causes her headache to worse. “I hate you,” she says.

“No, you don’t,”

“No, I don’t,” Waverly concedes. 

“Alright. So I’m ordered some of the greasiest shit from the diner in town to be delivered here and - What? What’s with the face? You gonna hurl?” Wynonna pauses, eyes widening in panic, but Waverly just shakes her head.

“No. No. I’m fine,” she insists. She smiles softly despite how much her mood protests it. “It’s just nice,”

“Nice?”

“You taking care of me and Nicole. Being the sober one,”

“Well,” Wynonna stiffens. “Figured it was my turn after all the shit I put you two through,”

She was right. The amount of times that Waverly had lead a drunken Wynonna up the stairs or prevent her from being clobbered by demons or stop her from letting a bonfire get out of control. 

“Well, still, I think it’s nice. Old Wynonna wouldn’t be so thoughtful, but new Wynonna…”

“You mean, Post-Dolls Wynonna - “

Waverly freezes. “I didn’t say that,”

“Yeah. You didn’t have to,” Wynonna looks down. “Having Alice, losing her, having Dolls, losing him… Kinda just reminded me that I have a bad habit of losing people I care about. Like Willa and daddy and… I just don’t want to lose you,”

“You’ll never lose me, ‘Nonna,” Waverly says with certainty. She grabs her sister’s hand and holds it tight. “You’ll never, ever lose me,”

Wynonna stares at her for a long moment like she’s about to argue, but instead she nods and smiles a little. A smile that isn’t too genuine. A smile that doesn’t really believe Waverly’s words. And it hurts. It hurts so much that Wynonna can’t see how loved she is. 

“Alright. Well, I gotta make sure your girlfriend doesn’t die,” Wynonna says, clapping her hands loudly together. “So, uh, get dressed and shower and we’ll have breakfast and then demon hunting,”

“Right. Demon hunting,”

“Okay,” Wynonna nods. She opens her mouth to speak, but just nods again and turns around and heads to the door and - 

“Wynonna,”

She turns around. “Yeah?”

“I love you,”

“I love you too, baby girl. Now, go. Shower. You smell worse than Bobo Del Rey in that well,” 

Waverly laughs but she doesn’t fight her sister on that. And even though she regretted the previous night and the drinking and the peppermint shots, she couldn’t wait for more inevitable crazy nights to come.


	28. Nicole Has Surgery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: " I recently had shoulder surgery (my third, and 13th overall) and was wondering if you could write a fanfic where Nicole ends up injuring a joint (knee, back, ankle, wrist, shoulder, but kind of would prefer shoulder if possible?) and needs surgery? She's goofy and cuddly and is rambling a lot and Waverly thinks she's just adorable and laughs when Nicole tries to hit on her?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did someone order fluff, fluff, and more fluff?

It had been a mistake. A stupid mistake while she was climbing. 

Something had gone wrong with her harness and she caught a rock with her right arm just as the rope went limp, holding the rock, holding up her whole weight, she pulled upwards with that one arm and got herself over the ledge.

It had been a mistake. A stupid mistake.

And her shoulder - which has always kind of hurt, a dull kind of hurt that turned sharp and painful from time to - had been killing her. 

It was throbbing. It was aching. It was hard to move. 

And then the doctor said she had to have surgery. All the years of climbing, of basketball, of running and tackling Rev-heads and drunks, had caused her shoulder to suffer some damage.

It was stupid. It was no big deal. Some surgery, some bedrest, some painkillers, some physical therapy, and she’d be back to new. That’s what the doctor said. So it was stupid. It was no big deal.

But there was a part of her that was scared. That was worried. And it was that part of her that Waverly immediately set out to comfort. 

“I made you a hospital bag!” Waverly announces the day before surgery. “I put your favorite candy. You’re blue blanket from home. Some pictures of Calamity Jane and me and Wynonna and everyone. I put some tea bags. Some - “ And Waverly stops, because Nicole is looking at her like she created the moon and stars. And Waverly stops, because Nicole is looking at her with a lovesick look. And Waverly stops and she giggles, “What?”

“I love you,”

“I love you too,”

They go to the hospital and Wynonna drives them and she grabs Nicole’s hand and squeezes it before she lets go. And they go to the hospital and Dolls meets them there and he gives Nicole a rough pat on the back. And they go to the hospital and Jeremy is already sitting in the waiting room and he jumps up at the sight of them and runs up and hugs Nicole. 

“It’s going to go great! And we’ll get you the best physical therapist! And you’ll be back to being awesome in no time!” Jeremy mumbles into her chest. And Nicole laughs and ruffles his hair. 

“Thanks, Jeremy,”

Jeremy backs away with a smile that looks a little starstruck. He fixes his hair casually, still grinning at the two as they advance to the front office. 

“You ready?” Waverly whispers to Nicole as they wait for the nurse. 

“I think. I don’t know. I’m scared. Is that stupid? I know it’ll be fine and I - “

“Hey. It’s okay to be scared,” Waverly takes Nicole’s hand. “I got you,”

“Okay,”

\---

She doesn't really remember what happened. Everything feels weird. Her mouth feels weird. Like it’s not attached to her body. And then a beautiful girl enters.

Waverly can’t help but melt at her girlfriend’s helpless and drugged out expression. “Oh, baby. How you feeling?”

“Like a million bucks,” Nicole says loudly. 

And Waverly laughs. She sits down on the chair beside Nicole. “Well, baby, the surgery went great,”

“That’s great!”

“It is,”

“Hey Wave-ee-lee?”

“Yes, Nicole?” Waverly asks, amused.

“You’re really pretty,” 

“Thanks, baby,”

“Like really pretty,”

“Thank you,” Waverly says, pushing red hair back. “You sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I think you’re my angel. My angel, Wave-ee-lee,”

“Oh, honey. If I was anyone’s angel, I’d definitely be yours,” 

“I think I wanna marry you,”

Waverly is quiet for a moment, unsure of what she heard. “Sorry, baby, did you say - “ 

“I wanna marry you,” 

“Baby, you’re drugged out of your mind. You should - “

“I’m not asking. Not yet. But I’m gonna marry you, Wave-ee-lee Earp. I’m gonna marry you and I’m gonna kick ass at it,”

And Waverly laughs. “And when you ask, you know what I’ll say?”

Nicole shakes her head. 

Waverly leans forward, pushing red strands of hair behind Nicole’s ear. “I’m going to say yes,” she whispers against Nicole’s skin and she leans forward and presses a soft kiss to Nicole’s forehead. “Now, get some rest, baby,”

And Nicole smiles at that, content, at peace, letting the drugs muddle her brain, letting the image of Waverly standing above her overwhelm her, and she smiles, albeit dopily, but she smiles and she lets sleep come to her, as the stress of the day falls into the back of her mind, and Waverly holds her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Send more prompts my way at gayywords on Tumblr! :D


	29. Sleepless Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Fan fiction of what happened after the fade out in 2x06 thanks"

They lay in bed. Uniform torn everywhere. Chest heaving. Red hair strewn across the pillow. Waverly lays there, trying to catch her breath. They stare at the ceiling.

“That was….”

“Amazing,” Waverly finishes. She turns to right and giggles at Nicole’s far away expression. “We’re, like, so good at that,”

“I know right!” Nicole says with a smile. “I was thinking about that. Like, we’re awesome at it,”

“We should quit our jobs and just do this,”

“Just do…each other,” Nicole smiles. “We could move to somewhere on the beach. Sex on a beach is on my bucket list,”

“Hm. Going to the beach is kind of on my bucket list,” Waverly says. And she turns to her right and Nicole is staring at her, big eyes wide in shock. “What?” Waverly frowns.

“You’ve never been to the beach?”

“No. I’ve always just been here… In Purgatory,”

“Well,” Nicole turns and faces the ceiling. “I’ll have to bring you sometime,”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but just to let you know - sand is kind of the worst,”

“Why don’t you like sand?” Waverly asks.

“It’s gross and it gets everywhere. Like everywhere,”

“Then, why do you want to have sex on the beach?”

“I don’t know. I always saw straight couples do that in movies and tv shows and it always looked like romantic and stuff. And I always thought one day I’d do that, but with a girl. On a private beach, preferably,”

“Obviously,”

Nicole hums.

Waverly is quiet for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. Her heart feels like it’s going to burst out of her chest. Full of love. So heavy.

“Nicole?”

“Yeah,”

“When do you think we’ll go the beach?”

“Oh. Um,” Nicole’s eyes are closed. And she looks so peaceful that Waverly can’t help but watch as Nicole wrinkles her nose and tries to think without the weight of exhaustion on her. “How about next summer? We should go when it’s hot so we can swim,”

“Summer,” Waverly repeats. That was months and months away. That was in the future. When she was with Champ, the idea of planning something so far away was anxiety-inducing, but with Nicole… It felt right. “Okay. We’ll go away for a week,”

“That sounds…fantastic,”

“Yeah,” Waverly grins. “Yeah, it does,”


	30. The Strange Noises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "What about Wynonna teasing Waverly and Nicole over breakfast about "some strange noises" she heard that night? Extra points if one of them is capable of shut her up with an even bigger sexual nonsense."

They are all quiet for a moment, eating breakfast with perfectly neutral faces. Nicole sips her coffee. Waverly puts copious amounts of vegan-friendly whip cream on her waffles. Wynonna just watches the two with arms crossed.

“You guys hear some strange noises last night?” Wynonna asks conversationally, with a shit-eating grin.

“No. I didn’t hear anything,” Nicole says with a shrug.

But Waverly can’t play as coy and blushes, but shakes her head.

“Really? I feel like you might have, baby girl. Sounded like a ghost, moaning,”

“Do you have something to say, Earp?” Nicole snaps.

“No. No. just enjoying breakfast,” Wynonna is grinning. She stares at the two, and Nicole can’t help but see Wynonna like a predatory waiting for the perfect moment to strike, the perfect moment to truly impress Waverly. But frankly, Nicole is sick of all the teasing.

“Are you going to stare at us the whole time?” Nicole frowns.

“No. No. I’m just…enjoying my waffles,” Wynonna says motioning to the plate in front of her.

“Uh-huh,” Nicole nods, not believing her one bit.

“Lot of waffles there, huh, baby girl? No surprise you must have worked up an appetite,” Wynonna says.

Waverly hesitates and drops her fork down before frowning, “Wynonna, come on. Just say it. Get it over with,” Because Wynonna is giving them that smug smile. That inside-joke smile. That I-know-something-you-don’t-know look that irritates Waverly and Nicole to no end.

But Wynonna just shakes her head. “Nope. Nope. I’m just… I’m enjoying my waffles. See?” She takes a bite and immediately lets out a moan. “Oh,” She moans again. “Oh, that is good. You get some waffles there, Haughtshit?”

“No,” Nicole deadpans.

“Really? Feel like you might be hungry there? Hm?” Wynonna takes another bite. And moans. “Oh God, Haught. Oh God,”

“Oh my God! You heard us!” Waverly squawks. “Okay? Sorry! We all live in the same house and I have a healthy sex life and - “

“Waves, please. I don’t need to hear all the dirty details,” Wynonna starts, but she grins evilly. “And I got a feeling they’re really dirty, huh?”

“Alright. That’s it,” Nicole stands up. “Waverly,” She takes her girlfriend hand. “We’re going upstairs. And you’re going to leave,”

“I’m not going to leave. This is my house!” Wynonna shouts out stubbornly.

“Suit yourself,” Nicole grins.

And after ten minutes upstairs, Wynonna, from the kitchen, began to regret her decision. She heaves a sigh, grabs her jacket, and heads out.

“Well played, Haught. Well, fucking played,”


	31. Black Cats in Purgatory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "I have a wayhaught prompt for you. In 3x03 Nicole says that she saw over 20 black cats with bowties. After that she goes home and tells Waverly"

“WAVERLY!” Nicole shouts. The whole house seems to shake and the book Waverly was reading suddenly seems unimportant.

“What? Baby? What?” She jumps up.

And Nicole is panting. And Nicole has tears in her eyes. But she’s… She’s smiling. And -

“I just saw the cutest thing! There were all these cats and bowties and baby - “

“You scared me!” Waverly shoves Nicole playfully, letting the stress come out as a bubbling laugh. “Nicole, you cannot do that!” she tries to scold her girlfriend, but her girlfriend is still smiling stupidly.

“I’m sorry! I am! But, baby, the cats are so cute. Oh my God. I’m going to start crying again! Come on! Come on!” And Nicole grabs Waverly’s hand and pulls her forward. And Waverly can’t help but laugh.

Only in Purgatory, huh. Only with Nicole.


	32. Nicole is A Revenant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Nicole is a revenant, she met Waverly before she realised she was an Earp, what happens when Waverly and the gang find out? Dun dun dun..."

Nicole jumps awake, feeling a burn in her chest, feeling a connection to the land. She walks around. Years ago, the land looked different. Years ago, she was shot because she had loved a woman. 

Of course, she robbed a few people to make enough money to help her and her girlfriend, Shae, run away. But, then she was shot. 

And now she’s back. Like before. And the time before that. And the time before that. 

Now, Nicole isn’t an outlaw. She doesn’t rob. She doesn’t need to. She keeps her head low, avoids Bobo and Rev-head gangs, and lives life, keeping quiet and staying low. 

She meets Waverly. She was supposed to walk in and question her, but then a tap was broken, shirts was being raised, and Nicole’s brain glitched. 

Like it had before. In a time where such thoughts, such feelings, were wrong. 

Times sure had changed, because Waverly gives her a smile, and Nicole thinks this might not be so one-sided. 

\---

They start dating. Secret touches. Secret kisses in the police department. It’s fantastic. It’s wonderful. But it’s only been three weeks. And Nicole is already head over heels.

And then, Waverly says, “You should over. For dinner. For fun. You can meet my sister. I mean, if you want to meet her. You don’t have to meet her. It’s okay - “

“Waverly,” Nicole interrupts. “I would love to,”

And after that, Nicole’s happiness begins to unravel.

\---

She’s given an address on her phone. She grins and drives down, watching the green blur of the trees and the grey blur of the mountain, and everything is blurring because her mind is just on Waverly, Waverly, Waverly. 

And she doesn’t really recognize this land. It’s so far out from Purgatory that - Nicole freezes. Earp land. There’s a line drawn in the dirt, invisible to the naked eye but protected by magic so strong and powerful. Earp land. Land that Nicole cannot enter. That Nicole can’t pass. 

She hops into her cruiser and takes off in the opposite direction as fast as possible.   
Waverly calls a lot. She calls and calls and Nicole refuses to pick up. She sits in bed, tangled in blankets, red hair all over, and she refuses to pick up.

Because Waverly, darling Waverly. The only girl who made her feel safe again. The only girl who made her _again_ is an Earp who lives on Earp land and has an Earp curse hanging over her head and is damn Earp. 

Nicole buries her head into the pillow. She wishes she could just fall asleep. But she can’t because then memories of Hell will come bubbling.

Waverly deserves better, she thinks, than a stupid demon-adjacent wanna-be, rookie-flat-foot deputy. Waverly deserves better. So Nicole refuses to pick up.

\---

“I don’t get it,” Waverly says, laying on her sister’s bed, brown hair all over. Wynonna is pacing, gun on her hip shining, and a scowl on her face. The Earp sisters have been mulling over Nicole’s disappearing act for the last hour and needless to say, Wynonna was pissed.

“Maybe asking her to a family dinner was just too much too soon and I scared her off,” Waverly says. She looks down at her phone. 

“I’m going to kill her,” Wynonna grits out. 

And Waverly sighs again, rubbing her face with her palms. “I thought she was the one, ‘Nonna. It was… When I was with her, it was just… It was perfect,”

“I’m going to kill her,” Wynonna says again. “I’m going to shoot her and - “

“Please don’t shoot my girlfriend,” Waverly snaps, but she looks down at her phone. “Although, maybe we weren’t ever… God, what did I do wrong?”

“Nothing, baby girl. You did nothing wrong. It’s that stick-up-her-ass cop that did something wrong,” Wynonna snaps. “Come on,” She marches to the door and throws it open. “We’re going to give Officer Haughtshit a piece of our mind,”

Waverly can’t help but laugh. “”Nonna, we can’t - “

“That girl stood you up! Aren’t you angry?”

Waverly waits a moment. She is angry actually, now that her sister had mentioned it. She waits a moment. “You know what,” She jumps out of bed. “Let’s go! Let’s go tell Nicole off!”

“That’s the spirit!” 

And the two set off.

\---

“NAUGHTY-HAUGHTY!” Wynonna screams, banging her fist against the door. She looks down at her sister. “No response,”

“‘Nonna, what if one of the Revenants got her? Something creepy and crawly in the night and it grabbed her?” Waverly squeaks. “She wasn’t showing up to work and - Oh God, Wynonna!” 

Wynonna eyes widen and before Waverly can stop her sister, Wynonna’s foot slams against the blue door and the door slams open and she’s storming in. 

“HAUGHT! HAUGHT!” 

“What the Hell?” someone shouts. And Waverly enters and she sees Nicole. Red hair messy and all over, big hoodie, and sweatpants. And she looks...different. She looks tired. Scared. Nervous. So...not-Nicole that Waverly skin itches. 

“Oh,” Nicole looks from Waverly to Wynonna and back to Waverly. And a sort of resigned look settles across her face as she inhales sharply. “I’m so sorry, Waverly. I didn’t know when I meant you and I just didn’t - “

“What the Hell are you blabbering about, Haught?” Wynonna snaps. 

“I swear, I didn’t know. And I understand if you’re angry,”

“Nicole, what are you talking about?” Waverly frowns. 

“I…” Nicole’s eyes dart around. “I didn’t know you were an Earp,”

“Oh,” And Waverly lets out a mirthless laugh. “Of course, I find someone who I actually really like and I can’t even be with them because I’m an Earp. And I’m cursed. And I’m scary and weird and a freak. Of course,” She shakes her head. “Come on, Wynonna. Let’s go. I don’t want to taint Nicole’s precious place with my dirty Earp hands,” And she turns around. 

“No! Wait!” Nicole yelps. “It’s not like that! Waves!” 

“No. You know what, Nicole? I’m tired for feeling bad that I’m an Earp! I’m proud of it! I’m proud of being an Earp! And nobody - not even you - will ever take that away from me!”

“Waves! Stop! It’s not that - I can’t date you because it wouldn’t be right for you to date someone like me! Don’t you see that?” 

Wynonna frowns as her and her sister stop in their tracks. “Someone like you… You mean a homosexual? How repressed are you, Haught? I’ve heard about internalized homophobia but this is - ”

“No! No! God! A Revenant! I’m a - I’m a Revenant!” 

And the whole room goes quiet. 

And Nicole just stands there, feeling stupid and vulnerable and wrong and bad and awful. And Nicole closes her eyes tight so tears won’t spill out. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m so sorry, Waverly. I really liked you. And I just… I didn’t know. So,” She opens her eyes and she looks to Wynonna. “Do what you have to do,”

Wynonna blinks rapidly. “Uh, what?”

“You have to send me to Hell. To break the curse. To - To protect Waverly,”

“Wait. Wait. Everyone! Stop!” Waverly raises her hands high. She steps forward. “Did you - Did you really not know?”

“No. I promise. I had no idea! I promised myself I would stay away from Earps and keep my head down and get my work done ever since Wyatt got pissy about a few measly robberies,” Nicole rubs her arm awkwardly. 

“Oh my God. You’re Katherine Coleman. The lesbian robber!” Waverly gasps. “You were trying to escape the Ghost River Triangle by getting enough money for you and your girlfriend!” 

And Nicole can’t help but smile. “Yeah, well… That was ages ago. The robbery part. Not the lesbian part. I’m still gay,”

“Good to know,” Waverly grins. 

And Wynonna can’t help but gag. But as the smiles fall, the three all exchange looks. There is something that needs to be done. Something that needs to be said. 

Nicole swallows thickly. “You have to send me back, don’t you?”

“I… I have to break the curse, Nicole,” Wynonna says. Her hands are in her pockets, like she’s purposefully fighting her insticts to whip the gun out. “I’m sorry, Haught, but - “

“No. Don’t apologize. You have a duty. I respect that,” Nicole nods. 

“Wait. No. Wynonna! You can’t - I - “ Waverly leans in close, dropping her voice suddenly. “Please, Wynonna. _I love her_ ,” she whispers.

Wynonna looks to Nicole. And then Waverly. And then back to Nicole. 

“If you hurt her again, you’ll wish that I shot you right here,”

Nicole feels nauseous but she nods. “Okay. Understood,”

“Good,” Wynonna says, satisfied. “I guess if I gotta take out seventy-seven Rev-heads maybe we could use the help of one,”

“I’d be happy to!” Nicole jumps in. “I have research actually - “

“You have research?” Waverly gasps. 

“Yeah. These guys have been causing trouble in Purgatory for centuries. I’m trying to clean up the streets and they just want to destroy all my hard work,” Nicole frowns. “So I’ve got some binders of research and reports. It’s all yours,”

“I’m so attracted to you right now,” Waverly whispers. And Nicole laughs. 

“Okay,” Wynonna nods, pretending she didn’t hear her little sister just whisper that. “Okay. Thanks, Haught. But, uh, one day…. One day, we’ll have to put you down,”

“And I’ll be ready,” Nicole nods. 

For so long, she feared the Earps and they what they represented. For so long, she was afraid. But now…. But now, she couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gave it a sort of hopeful, Wynonna-doesn't-kill-Nicole-right-then-and-there kind of ending, because that's exactly the plot to my fic - The Survivor. So I thought I would stray from the expected. Hope you like it!


	33. Trapped Out of Eden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole and Wynonna cope with the events that occured in the finale

Nicole starts smoking again. It’s what Wynonna notices it first. Nicole starts smoking, sitting out on the patio every so often. And the smell makes Wynonna’s stomach flip. Because the smell reminds her of Doc. She tries not to think about it too much.

And Nicole is a ghost of herself. She sleeps in the homestead on the couch and she makes breakfast for Wynonna. And she picks up Wynonna from bars with dark bags under her eyes. And she goes through the motions. And Wynonna is reminded of Waverly. Every sad look, every time Nicole takes a long sip of bourbon and just stares out, at nothing in particular, far, far away. 

\---

She tells Nicole after the whole Valdez situation when no one is around. She expects Nicole to cry. To yell. To scream. Instead, as the words leave Wynonna’s lip, a look of muted horror descended on Nicole’s features, then she nods and she walks out, not uttering a word.

Nicole comes back five hours later. She smells like alcohol and she stumbles in.

“Where’d you go?” Wynonna croaks. 

“The stairs…” Nicole slurs. “They didn’t - didn’t let me in,”

Wynonna nods, and she sits down beside her. “I’m sorry,”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t - “ Nicole closes her eye extremely tight like she’s hoping she’ll just disappear. “We are trapped outside of Eden,” she murmurs. She rubs her eyes with her palms. And looks over at Wynonna. “We’re trapped,”

“Yeah. Yeah, we are,” Wynonna says. She stands up abruptly. “I’m gonna get some alcohol. I can’t do this pity party sober,”

\---

After that, Nicole picks herself up. At least, pretends to. She puts on her uniform, runs a comb through red hair, and goes to work. But she spends her nights pouring over Waverly’s textbooks and screaming in her sleep. 

Wynonna asks in the morning. She can’t help it. 

“What do you see?” she asks. “In the nightmares?”

“...Bulshar’s fucking cult,” Nicole murmurs before she takes a sip of her coffee. She places the cup down and suddenly she looks weird. Like she isn’t sure whether or not to continue, but she does, with a nervous glint in her eyes. “Waverly would… Waverly would help me with them,”

It’s the first time that they have said her name since Wynonna told Nicole what happened. 

It’s ridiculous. It is. But it’s unspoken. A rule of the homestead, and Nicole has broken it. They both know it. 

Nicole closes her mouth, pressing her lips together tightly. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna go,”

“Haught,”

But Nicole is already out the door. 

\---

Wynonna lays in bed. No BPD. No Earp curse. No Alice. No Waverly. There’s nothing she loves around, nothing to distract her. Except Nicole. Nicole’s a good distraction. And alcohol. Alcohol is a good distraction and she practically bathes in it, going to Shorty’s and sitting next to Nedley in a Hawaiian shirt and drinking the place dry. 

“I should have drugged her too,” Wynonna says as Nicole helps carry her to the police cruiser. “Shoulda drugged little baby Wavey. So little baby Wavey doesn’t get fuckin’ trapped,” 

“She would have gone anyways,” Nicole says with a deep sigh. “No matter what, nothing can stop Waverly Earp. She’s extraordinary,”

“You _love_ her,” Wynonna sing-songs.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” Nicole opens the door and slides Wynonna in. “We… She asked me to marry her,”

Wynonna falls silent. Her drunken antics completely falling apart. “What?”

“Yeah. Um. She asked before she…” And Nicole fishes in her pocket for a moment and lifts up a ring. Dark and belonging to Charlie - Wait, Julian. 

“Did you say - “

“I didn’t say anything. There was no time,”

“Holy shit,”

“Yeah,”

“Would you?”

“What?”

“Would you have said yes?”

“I…” Nicole looks down at the ring. And then she looks up and there are tears in her eyes. Which Wynonna is taken aback by. Because Nicole is the rock. Nicole dresses up. Nicole hides the bags under her eyes. Nicole comes to bars at three in the morning and hauls Wynonna’s ass out. Nicole is a rock. And there are tears in her eyes right now, and Wynonna doesn’t know what to do. 

“I would go to Hell and back for her,” Nicole answers. She places the ring back in her breast pocket and wipes the tears from her eyes. “Come on, Earp. Let’s get you home,”

\---

Nicole smokes when she’s stressed. She used to not before. Waverly hated it, but without Waverly, Nicole is falling back on bad habits. 

Smoke. Alcohol. Little to no sleep. Forgetting meals. Nicole is starting to cave in on herself. But she wouldn’t let anyone know. 

“Doc’s with her,” Wynonna says, sitting on the porch beside her. The two just staring off in the land. 

“And I’m supposed to trust him?” Nicole scoffs. 

Wynonna doesn’t say anything so Nicole continues, “He’s… He killed Charlie, and he just… He had no remorse. I looked in his eyes and there was no… And he tried to kill Charlie and Waves back in the greenhouse and - “ Nicole rubs her forehead. “She trapped with a madman. A monster. And we’re out here getting drunk and being fucking idiots,”

“Hey. Don’t say that,”

“It’s true. I’m… She’s always been smarter than me. If it was me, she would save me. She’d find the damn loophole, but I - I don’t know how to speak Sumerian! I don’t know Latin! And I don’t know how to fix this without shooting my way out,”

“We’re going to find a way, Haught. Okay? Even if it kills us,”

Nicole stuck another cigarette between her lips and played with the lighter before taking a shaky inhale. “Yeah,” Smoke drifts out. “Yeah. Okay,” 

\---

It does try to kill them. It does. It tries to creep up on them. It comes in the form of bar fights, in monsters and things go bump in the night trying to take them out. Nicole wraps gauze around Wynonna’s fists. And Nicole gets stabbed a few more times but nothing as bad as that night in the barn…

And guilt and anger and sadness churns through them both, but they keep going. They keep moving. Because the alternative, the alternative, to allow Waverly to come back to rubble, to not help Waverly get out, to let them eat them up….

Nicole picks Wynonna up at the station and drives her home, and the two mull over coffee this time instead of whiskey and Nicole and Wynonna know it. 

They know it. 

Deep down, no matter what, they’ll get Waverly back. They’ll get her back. And they’ll get her back and everything will work itself out. 

But in the meantime, they have each other. Nicole takes care of Wynonna. Wynonna takes care of Nicole. 

And soon, they’ll get her back.


	34. Nicole's Middle Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wynonna finding about Nicole's middle name.

“I never asked what your middle name was,” Wynonna said as the two drove through barren land of Purgatory. 

Nicole just snorted. “We’re about to attack some big baddies and you pick _now_ to ask?

“Well,” Wynonna mulled it over for a moment. “We’re about to go kick some ass together, my baby sister and your lover in the nighttime is trapped in Heaven with my vampire, cowboy-ex and - and - ” And Wynonna’s sarcasm fell apart. “You’re all I got left, Red,”

Nicole looked forward at the road, looking forward and ahead and not at Wynonna. “I’m not telling you,” she decided. “You’ll just make fun of me,”

“Oh, hey. I would never,”

“Um, you _so_ would,”

Wynonna shrugged. She looked over out the window. The world felt so...grey. At least, Nicole served a good distraction. “You should know I never got to learn Dolls’ middle name. We spent so much time together, but I never… I never asked. I didn’t think to. Maybe it was Xavier Pamela Dolls,”

“It’s not,”

“But you don’t know it so therefore it could be,”

“I hate you,”

“You don’t,”

Nicole said nothing for a moment, staring at the road. “You know,” she started. “It’s a little shitty to bring up Dolls to get me reveal my middle name,”

“Is it working?”

“...Yeah,”

“Well,” Wynonna said with a sigh. And it wasn’t a victorious one but a defeated one.

Nicole tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “It’s not going to…. We’re not going to go through that again,”

“Go through what?”

“Losing someone. Losing… We’re not gonna lose _her_ ,” Nicole said. And her face contorted, refusing to say her name, refusing to admit it, refusing to speak. 

“Oh, Haughtie. Always so optimistic,”

“Aren’t you?”

“I…” Wynonna drummed her fingers against the door. “I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know if I should trust Doc. But… But I know my sister. She’s strong. She’ll… She’ll make it,”

“Yeah. She’ll make it. And so we are too,”

“I’m not sure of that,”

“What?”

“I just… I don’t know. Growing old and sitting on a porch cracking jokes and drinking whiskey ‘till I’m ninety-seven…. It doesn't seem in the cards for me. It wasn’t for Dolls… It wasn’t for Doc… It’ll probably won’t be for me,”

“No one tells you what to do, Earp. Okay?” Nicole snapped. “I couldn’t get you to eat veggies and quit drinking so much even if I tried,”

“Veggies?”

“They’re good for you!”

“Gross!”

“Baby carrots and - “

“Haught, I’m going to punch you,”

“Please don’t,”

Wynonna began drumming again. “So the ring, huh?” And when Nicole jumped, Wynonna let out a breathy laugh. “What, Red? Think I wouldn’t notice that my boyfriend-slash-baby-sister’s-dad-slash-angel-boy’s ring wasn’t on your slender, little finger?”

“No, but you’re pretty oblivious,”

“Oblivious?”

“Uh, yeah. I was dating… _her_ for like a full two months before you noticed,”

“Alright. That’s true,” 

Nicole looked down at her finger for a moment before clenching her fist. “She…. She gave it to me,”

“As just like a little nice keepsake? Or a - “

“Engagement. I think. I don’t know. We didn’t get a chance to talk,” Nicole murmurs. “It… It doesn’t matter now,”

“Like Hell it doesn’t. If you’re about to become an Earp, we gotta lot to talk about,”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nicole snapped. And she immediately felt bad for getting angry. She deflated quickly, dropping her shoulders, letting the tension fall apart. “Sorry. It’s just - It doesn’t matter. Not now. We just need to…”

“Find her?”

“Yeah,”

“And you think this will work?”

“I hope so,”

The two are quiet for a long moment before Nicole sighed loudly. 

“My middle name is Rayleigh,”

“ _Really_?”

“No, _Rayleigh_ ,” Nicole corrects.

“That’s...uh….”

“Super hippie-dippie?”

“Oh, yeah,”

“Well… That was my parents,” Nicole shrugged. “When Waverly and I have kids, we are _so_ not naming them anything like that,” And there was silence. Long silence. “What? Did I say something?” she said, looking over at Wynonna briefly. 

And Wynonna was smiling. A sad smile. But a smile.

“What?” Nicole repeated. 

“You said her name,”

“Yeah… I… Yeah, I did,”

And the two turned forward, toward the road, toward the future, toward kids running around the homestead, and weddings and happily ever afters, towards whatever would happen next. And they turned forward, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I found out Nicole's middle name, I had to write this immediately. And once I started, I had to include some emotions and finale feels, because how could I not?


End file.
